Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source
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@stacksofplates said in Looking for free RMM kind, or at least with H/W and S/W inventory software with agent.:
Well having used both, the initial SS
Well, that was a tech preview without any of the cool functionality in it yet. So I can totally see why it would give that impression. That was a framework being set up with some hopefully usable components to use for testing and demonstration.
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@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
Also, I thought the plans were to provide a SaaS? You don't need to sell the software if you monetize the service. What's the monetization strategy?
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@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
Also, I thought the plans were to provide a SaaS? You don't need to sell the software if you monetize the service. What's the monetization strategy?
Yes this is how many open source projects are monetizing. They just offer a SaaS version of their product
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@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
That is true as well. Open Source will dramatically reduce your development costs as you have interested parties actually contributing to project
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
Also, I thought the plans were to provide a SaaS? You don't need to sell the software if you monetize the service. What's the monetization strategy?
Yes this is how many open source projects are monetizing. They just offer a SaaS version of their product
Yeah look at things like OpenShift or Terraform Cloud. Especially Terraform Cloud, there isn't really a competitor for Terraform and the same with any of Hashicorp's tools.
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
That is true as well. Open Source will dramatically reduce your development costs as you have interested parties actually contributing to project
You could also do the open core model, which a lot of FOSS software does. Have the core functionality, maybe RMM specific stuff, be open source but all the "game changing" things be behind a pay wall.
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@coliver said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
That is true as well. Open Source will dramatically reduce your development costs as you have interested parties actually contributing to project
You could also do the open core model, which a lot of FOSS software does. Have the core functionality, maybe RMM specific stuff, be open source but all the "game changing" things be behind a pay wall.
Wazuh Cloud is a cool offering. It gives you a 30 day trial on their cloud so you get used to it.
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@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
Obviously a pretty valid point.
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@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
Also, I thought the plans were to provide a SaaS? You don't need to sell the software if you monetize the service. What's the monetization strategy?
SaaS monetization is the strategy. No need to sell software, hence my point in not making any "software" at all. It's purely a service.
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
That is true as well. Open Source will dramatically reduce your development costs as you have interested parties actually contributing to project
Open source will potentially do that, it could also make it higher. It's not as clear cut as that. The first struggle would be attracting open source developers interesting in contributing who produce more than they cost in additional communications and direction needed.
If there were an existing body of open source people clamouring to do this who wanted to get involved, we'd be having a very different discussion. But the assumption is that the interest, at least up front, is extremely small and would undermine the existing interest without generating anything new.
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@coliver said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
That is true as well. Open Source will dramatically reduce your development costs as you have interested parties actually contributing to project
You could also do the open core model, which a lot of FOSS software does. Have the core functionality, maybe RMM specific stuff, be open source but all the "game changing" things be behind a pay wall.
If we can identify, and separate, those functionalities, this has the best potential to work. There are certainly "boilerplate" components that we need, but aren't game changing in any way. It still carries risk that opening it could garner no additional assistance while making internal development slower, though. But it has potential if there were good people looking to work on specific components.
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@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
If there were an existing body of open source people clamouring to do this who wanted to get involved, we'd be having a very different discussion. But the assumption is that the interest, at least up front, is extremely small and would undermine the existing interest without generating anything new.
You cant say there's no
if you dont throw out a line or two.You can always move from open to closed source as you see fit as well. Alot of the ML community was interested in helping troubleshoot bugs with SS. So why wouldnt they be interested in making minor contributions.
You probably wont catch a marlin on your first cast, but eventually you will find someone who starts using SS as a daily driver and really starts contributing
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
Alot of the ML community was interested in helping troubleshoot bugs with SS. So why wouldnt they be interested in making minor contributions.
Presumably because willingness to contribute as IT professionals in an IT community wouldn't imply willingness to code. One is the expected skill set of a community of target users. The other is not unexpected, but not directly correlated skill that isn't what the community is about.
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
You probably wont catch a marlin on your first cast, but eventually you will find someone who starts using SS as a daily driver and really starts contributing
Yeah, that's great when it happens. It's boot strapping right now that's the challenge (core team being tied up.)
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@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
Alot of the ML community was interested in helping troubleshoot bugs with SS. So why wouldnt they be interested in making minor contributions.
Presumably because willingness to contribute as IT professionals in an IT community wouldn't imply willingness to code. One is the expected skill set of a community of target users. The other is not unexpected, but not directly correlated skill that isn't what the community is about.
I am not a dev myself, at all. I am able to improve code sometimes on open source projects. Not in a major way, but every little bit helps.
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@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
You probably wont catch a marlin on your first cast, but eventually you will find someone who starts using SS as a daily driver and really starts contributing
Yeah, that's great when it happens. It's boot strapping right now that's the challenge (core team being tied up.)
Hmm maybe you should hire a contractor with both salt and development experience....
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@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@Obsolesce said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
@scottalanmiller said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
It's been kicked around but adds a ton of complication to any monetization strategy.
You can't monetize something that doesn't exist!
That is true as well. Open Source will dramatically reduce your development costs as you have interested parties actually contributing to project
Open source will potentially do that, it could also make it higher. It's not as clear cut as that. The first struggle would be attracting open source developers interesting in contributing who produce more than they cost in additional communications and direction needed.
If there were an existing body of open source people clamouring to do this who wanted to get involved, we'd be having a very different discussion. But the assumption is that the interest, at least up front, is extremely small and would undermine the existing interest without generating anything new.
We don't even know which language... or at least I don't.
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
Not in a major way, but every little bit helps.
Every little bit helps to get the code done, yes.
But it is also an increase in cost to the company doing the actual core work.
That is the point that @scottalanmiller has stated o many times in this thread that you all seem to have no grasp of.
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@JaredBusch said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
the actual core work.
...which is not being done because there's nobody available to do it.
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@IRJ said in Should SodiumSuite Be Open Source:
I am not a dev myself, at all. I am able to improve code sometimes on open source projects.
Having been a developer, professionally, I can assert with confidence that this kind of "help" is the most expensive.
Now, on full open source projects with little to no business backing, this is all hidden as even the core dev time is "donated" to the project also.
But when you are a business actually attempting to get software written, the time to review submissions and clean them up to standards for your code will likely outweigh any benefit.
