zero as open source?
cristi.v...@gmail.com
Part of the conversation is reproduced at the end of this email, with
his permission.
I get requests for opening the source code every once in a while, and
I tend to brush off those that I perceive as purely political.
But Nathan's genuine eagerness to contribute to the project made me
day dream for a good part of yesterday about how many improvements
could be made to the project, should the source be open.
There are bugs to be fixed, manuals to be written, and an open-ended
set of extension plug-ins to be developed, such as support for remote
debugging, to name just one.
My conundrum though is how to make Zero BUGS a sustainable business
while opening the code.
It would be nice to make enough off of this project so that I can work
on it full time.
Some may give the classical answer: open the code and sell support. I
think that is a model that may work well for large organizations such
as RedHat or Oracle: they have the staff and the resources, and most
importantly, established brand names.
I doubt that once I open the source code for ZeroBUGS people will line
up in front of my door to buy my expert services. I think that selling
licenses is a more sustainable and predictable revenue stream.
I would be very interested in hearing opinions,
Cristian Vlasceanu
----------------- from email exchange with Nathan ------------------
6. The command-line interface is not nearly as usable as gdb. I
have
a lot of ideas on how it could be improved to be better than gdb,
but
this message is getting long, so I'll defer that to another time.
The command line is meant to be just a bare-bone way of interacting
with the engine, and run automated tests. It can be extended either by
writing a C++ plug-in, or a with a Python script (for example, I one
thing that I started sketching a while ago but never finished is a DMI-
compliant command line interface, all coded in Python).
I think your project is great, and I hope you keep improving zero.
Gdb has annoyed me with it's deficiencies for debugging C++ code
for
many years, and it's nice to see a potential alternative emerge.
I am
disappointed that zero's source code is not available, so it's not
possible for me to help out.
My goal is to make this debugger a commercial project (and offer it
for a reasonable price as opposed to charging thousands of $$$ like
some of the competitors).
But I am having difficulties coming up with a business plan that would
harness the benefits of opening the source while protecting my
intellectual property. As a matter of fact, I will be attending the
Ubuntu Live conference next month, where I plan to ask around for
opinions and suggestions from other folks who made Open Source work
for them.
At this time, until I figure things out, the code is available
provided an NDA is signed, as I stated on the website.
harri
regards to open sourcing?
Personally I'd think you'd have much easier time selling yourself as a
C++ consultant than trying to sell a C++ debugger to a market that
very used to getting all the tools as open source. But hey, I'm just
a developer myself, so what do I know.
Harri
C. Vlasceanu
How did the Ubuntu live conference go, and what is the situation with
regards to open sourcing?
I was privileged to chat with Mr. Ubuntu himself; after patiently listening to my description of ZeroBUGS, Mark suggested that I don't have much to gain by opening the code, unless I cross-self a different product, or sell support and some other type of add-on service.
Personally I'd think you'd have much easier time selling yourself as a
C++ consultant
But that would only get me employment (which I do not have too hard a time to find anyway), and it means I would still have to work on some customer's project at day and do Zero at night.
than trying to sell a C++ debugger to a market that
very used to getting all the tools as open source.
Yes, individual users are, but businesses tend to care more about what works rather than what the ideology / methodology behind the product is.
The jury is still out. On one hand, I would like to capitalize on the work that I have already done so that I can afford to work on this project full time. Allowing people to contribute would be nice too; in that direction, I am working on completing the documentation on the APIs and Python scripting.
Cristian
C. Vlasceanu
harri
wrote:
> Let's have a show of hands: if it were open, who would like (and find the
> time) to actively contribute?
I would guess it is more like hoping for the Linus's motto to become
true:
'Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.'
In open source project contributors come and go, each scratching their
own specific itch.
I have no idea how large zero's user base is yet, but I would guess
fairly small. I'd wager that a large part of C/C++ programming
population has not even heard of it.
So 'actively contribute' is perhaps too much to promise, but I could
perhaps contribute a little bit here and there, following my own bugs,
kind of like I already have...
Harri
C. Vlasceanu
C. Vlasceanu
At a first sight, this looks like a very attractive model for open-sourcing Zero. Anyone who has comments or experience with this model, your emails are more than welcome!
Best regards, and may your code have zero bugs!
Cristian
http://the-free-meme.blogspot.com
Andy Somerville
C. Vlasceanu
I need to do more research and see how others have implemented it.
For example, one important aspect to figure out is finding an entity to act as escrow.