Comments on: An exploration of open core licensing in network management http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/ Your daily IT cuppa Sun, 23 Jan 2011 07:05:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nagios : de l’open source à l’open core ? | Nap's mini world http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7531 Nagios : de l’open source à l’open core ? | Nap's mini world Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:29:31 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7531 [...] viens de tomber sur deux posts intéressants ici et là qui traitent d’un problème qui se répand de plus en plus dans les logiciels ouverts [...] [...] viens de tomber sur deux posts intéressants ici et là qui traitent d’un problème qui se répand de plus en plus dans les logiciels ouverts [...]

]]> By: Links 7/3/2010: Deutsche Börse and Red Hat | Boycott Novell http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7480 Links 7/3/2010: Deutsche Börse and Red Hat | Boycott Novell Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:45:34 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7480 [...] An exploration of open core licensing in network management [...] [...] An exploration of open core licensing in network management [...]

]]> By: Musings upon the open core functionality ceiling http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7464 Musings upon the open core functionality ceiling Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:38:04 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7464 [...] An exploration of open core licensing in network management I mentioned that one possible side effect of open core software is the creation of a functionality [...] [...] An exploration of open core licensing in network management I mentioned that one possible side effect of open core software is the creation of a functionality [...]

]]> By: Planet Network Management Highlights 2010 Week 8 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7452 Planet Network Management Highlights 2010 Week 8 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:01:20 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7452 [...] An exploration of open core licensing in network management – an examination of open core licensing in network management… [cough, this is one of mine so, well, you know ] [...] [...] An exploration of open core licensing in network management – an examination of open core licensing in network management… [cough, this is one of mine so, well, you know ] [...]

]]> By: Jack Hughes http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7451 Jack Hughes Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:18:31 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7451 Jeff, I'm not sure the anti features tag really applies to open core products like Hyperic.The community product is free so the consumer isn't paying for something not to be included in the product. The question is why do people purchase software when there are perfectly good completely free alternatives available? I guess that's another blog post right there. ;) Jeff, I’m not sure the anti features tag really applies to open core products like Hyperic.The community product is free so the consumer isn’t paying for something not to be included in the product. The question is why do people purchase software when there are perfectly good completely free alternatives available? I guess that’s another blog post right there. ;)

]]> By: Jeff Gehlbach http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7450 Jeff Gehlbach Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:02:09 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7450 My point about the recovery alerts isn't so much that its absence should stop people wanting to use the "community" product as that it's an antifeature: (http://wiki.mako.cc/Antifeatures). There's absolutely no reason to exclude it except for the up-sell. It's like the inverse of the shareware trick of inserting a watermark in every page printed from the no-cost version. The question of whether a given license can be considered to be "an open source license" is muddied quite a bit by the fact that the OSI has never been able to secure registration of the "Open Source" trademark in order to control its use. It's unfortunate that nobody has been able to come up with a better term whose use can be controlled. My point about the recovery alerts isn’t so much that its absence should stop people wanting to use the “community” product as that it’s an antifeature: (http://wiki.mako.cc/Antifeatures). There’s absolutely no reason to exclude it except for the up-sell. It’s like the inverse of the shareware trick of inserting a watermark in every page printed from the no-cost version.

The question of whether a given license can be considered to be “an open source license” is muddied quite a bit by the fact that the OSI has never been able to secure registration of the “Open Source” trademark in order to control its use. It’s unfortunate that nobody has been able to come up with a better term whose use can be controlled.

]]> By: Jack Hughes http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7449 Jack Hughes Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:21:00 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7449 Jeff - thanks for your comments. First point: whilst it could be argued that the lack of the "falling alarm" event is a severe limitation in the community product, the effect may not be to put people off the community product. Instead it may encourage people to upgrade to the paid for enterprise product instead. I doubt the VP of sales would be exactly crying into her grande latte at that possibility. Second point: a comment on Tarus's blog, I believe by somebody from Zenoss, mentions just such a problem they are having: http://www.adventuresinoss.com/?p=1234#comment-1689 Jeff – thanks for your comments.

First point: whilst it could be argued that the lack of the “falling alarm” event is a severe limitation in the community product, the effect may not be to put people off the community product. Instead it may encourage people to upgrade to the paid for enterprise product instead. I doubt the VP of sales would be exactly crying into her grande latte at that possibility.

Second point: a comment on Tarus’s blog, I believe by somebody from Zenoss, mentions just such a problem they are having: http://www.adventuresinoss.com/?p=1234#comment-1689

]]> By: Jeff Gehlbach http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/an-exploration-of-open-core-licensing-in-network-management/comment-page-1/#comment-7448 Jeff Gehlbach Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:27:19 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=1466#comment-7448 Nice summary, Jack. A couple things need pointing out, though. First, you seem to suggest that "Key features are [not] missing" from open-core software and that "open core software is not time limited". This is not always the case, as exemplified by Hyperic's HQ product. The community version supports notifying users on a trouble or "rising alarm" event but not on a clear or "falling alarm" event. The feature chart at http://www.hyperic.com/products/monitoring-comparison-chart refers to this feature as "recovery alerts". For managing more than a handful of systems, this functionality is definitely key. As for time limitations, most of the open-core vendors will happily set up prospective buyers with a time-limited trial of the "enterprise" product. The catch is that the buyer has to talk to a salesperson in order to get it. Second, you state that "[s]ome open source licenses may well preclude use of the software within a commercial setting". The Open Source Definition (http://opensource.org/docs/osd) specifies that an open-source license "must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research." Disclosure: I work for The OpenNMS Group. Nice summary, Jack. A couple things need pointing out, though.

First, you seem to suggest that “Key features are [not] missing” from open-core software and that “open core software is not time limited”. This is not always the case, as exemplified by Hyperic’s HQ product. The community version supports notifying users on a trouble or “rising alarm” event but not on a clear or “falling alarm” event. The feature chart at http://www.hyperic.com/products/monitoring-comparison-chart refers to this feature as “recovery alerts”. For managing more than a handful of systems, this functionality is definitely key. As for time limitations, most of the open-core vendors will happily set up prospective buyers with a time-limited trial of the “enterprise” product. The catch is that the buyer has to talk to a salesperson in order to get it.

Second, you state that “[s]ome open source licenses may well preclude use of the software within a commercial setting”. The Open Source Definition (http://opensource.org/docs/osd) specifies that an open-source license “must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.”

Disclosure: I work for The OpenNMS Group.

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