Valuing opensource

It’s getting more and more fashionable to buy an opensource company. Quite often, the buyer is a closed-source company.

For about a decade I earned a living as a salesman, selling software services. And when I started, I remember being told “a salesman is only as good as his next sale”.

I think that something similar needs to be said about opensource companies. Their value is not in the IP they produced in the past; instead, it vests in the IP they will produce in the future. Which is why the community is important. I am aware that a very small number of people really contribute to an opensource project, any opensource project; but what they contribute becomes valuable because of the community.

No community, no value. Caveat emptor.

Let me know what you think

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