Like a lightbulb. Really. Open source makes so much sense to me as a method of enlightment but now I finally understand how it can also lead to financial enrichment. Really. And at the same time, be a catalyst for change.

Wow. Better the world and profit from it. What could be better?

There are some open source tools that are simply amazing. For example, I created over the course of three days a system that initially took me and a team of highly skilled engineers (many) months to develop. And I had to learn the development language and framework in addition to create the system. Of course, it doesn’t have the functionality of a mature system, but at three days old… holy cow!

But profit? Why not give it away for free? And in doing so, solicit feedback and improvements. And keep doing so until it becomes wothy of being a competitor. And then…still give it away for free. Why not? At some point, it becomes eligible to be labeled an enterprise app. And all because I gave it away. For free. And solicited feedback and even improvements.

An enterprise app. In some industries there are enterprise apps that are just evolutionary. With no catalyst for change. Enter the open source app. Used by thousands of solo practitioners. And improved upon as a result of feedback from those thousands of users. It becomes a compelling choice for the enterprise. Why not? Why be locked into an evolutionary product controlled by a sole provider? I’ve seen many “best in class” enterprise apps fail due to bad management decisions. Empower the user by giving them the control. And there is the opportunity for profit. Consulting opportunities to enlighten the user. Just so the user can control their destiny. Who wouldn’t want to pay for that?