Enterprising Linux (B-EYE-Network) [LWN.net]

B-EYE-Network takes an introductory look at making money with Linux distributions. "Open source software companies are in a strange business: they don't usually own exclusive rights to publish the open source software they sell, and many have little or nothing to do with the development of much of the software they sell. Also, by definition, anyone can download their product -- open source software -- for free. So how does a company like Red Hat win new customers when anyone, including their potential customers and competitors, can get the source code to Red Hat's flagship product, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)? And why is that an advantage, not a problem?"

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Enterprising Linux (B-EYE-Network)

Posted Jun 15, 2006 8:32 UTC (Thu) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link]

I think it is also worth mentioning small scale commercial distros that only one or a handfull of people work on and make money off of.

Two examples I can think of that are popular are Slackware and Damn Small Linux. Both are widely used. Slackware is one of hte oldest distros around and they have different approaches to getting income.

The fellows at damnsmalllinux.com have a couple interesting articles on the subject...

John's guide to earning an income from a Free and Open Source project
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/income-guide/

Fundraising.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/fundraising/

Certainly much different rules apply if your a small business or individual doing free software development vs a large corporation like Redhat.