Semi opensource

[paaaaaaaaaa]

In my mind opensource and free web software is making it hard for many web programmers to make good money. To be honest I cant believe there are developers that put weeks and months of work in to offer it out for free. Would you go to a factory and work for that long for no pay? However the good thing about opensource is that any developer can join in and help with the project. So I have an idea which would be semi-opensource.

I would like to see a site like sourceforge (which I'm actually considering starting myself) which will allow web developers to start projects in a semi opensource style. It would work just like sourceforge but developers would need an invite to join projects. The source of a project would be only open to project members. Registered developers could also get a rank after approved works, ranked developers could then instantly join projects. Developers can then essentially sell their software and a method can be designed to assign payment ranks to the joining developers.

What I want to know is would this work? Is it a good idea? What are your views?

 

[kwakkwak]

this is a nice idea but's it will not be that easy to start up. but in fact the idea is good. Send me pm with some more info can be interested.

regards

 

[xonez]

yeah thats a really nice idea actually and i could see it working. As kwakkwak said though, it would be quite difficult to set-up, and you would need a bloody good coder too!

I think it would definitely work tho, and revenue from advertising could be WOW.

 

[lzy]

The only reason Wordpress got so successful and surpassed their rivals is because they offered everything for free and have a active support community to back it up. See where that got them.

Just my opinion.

 

[abdussamad]

In my mind opensource and free web software is making it hard for many web programmers to make good money. To be honest I cant believe there are developers that put weeks and months of work in to offer it out for free. Would you go to a factory and work for that long for no pay? However the good thing about opensource is that any developer can join in and help with the project. So I have an idea which would be semi-opensource.

Actually its more a case of necessity being the mother of invention. IF there is one thing that ties open source developers together its their completely selfish desire for software. That desire spurs them onto to develop software for their own use. Giving it away is just something they do because a) it costs nothing to give it away b) they enjoy the peer approval and respect.

 

[zachary0611]

well i think its a good thing it allows everyone to learn from it pligg is an open source script and its abosultely great start an open source forum but put ads in it so that can give you some revenue

 

[paaaaaaaaaa]

kwakkwak, xonez:
I agree it would be a large job. However this thing can start off small. Stage one of this project would be making a kind of directory site of projects that may want to be part of this. This way I can find out how many developers would be interested in this kind of thing.

lzy:
I agree. Anything that is free will get more interest. Especially if its of good value. However what if there were a word press alternative that allowed different developers to join in but rewarded them with pay on the basis of their work. Would these developers still be making word press mods? Some, maybe but I would put money on saying less would.

abdussamad:
That's a great point. Generally they would get more recognition if it is offered for free. The only thing that may sway them with my idea is that fact they get ranks, access to more projects that may normally cost money. Also some cash coming their way. Hopefully that would be enough to sway some.


I don't want to completely do away with open source. It is a great thing. Charities benefit etc. I believe in sharing which is what my idea is more based on (contributing developers would get full access to other projects that normally would cost). Maybe my site could offer ways to give organisations ranks aswell, such as charities (based on what they offer communities). Then they could get the software for free.