如何发布/出售/促进半商业/开源项目? [英] How do I release/sell/promote a semi-commercial/open-source project?
问题描述
我已经为PHP开发了一个框架，该框架总共开发了大约3个星期，但是如果我愿意的话，它已经可以发布了.在这样的经济环境下，我不能随心所欲地免费发布它并感到公正(因为我需要它可以筹集到的资金)，但是我对开源项目的赞赏使我为之震惊.我想吃和我想作为开源共享.我敢肯定，有些人马上就能理解我的难题.
作为我项目优缺点的一个示例，这是与CodeIgniter的非常快速的比较.我的框架以基本速度快10倍(空白CI与我的基本演示相比)，在其他地方快20-30倍.但是，我的框架缺少CI具有的许多功能，例如高级路由(使用正则表达式或命名参数)和ORM.如果我想将其与另一种语言的类似框架进行比较，则可以将我的工作称为PHP的Sinatra或Ramaze.
我需要一些额外的收入.这是一个事实，但是我不希望它成为严格的商业项目.
我喜欢开源，我想贡献自己的作品.是的，我知道用于PHP的框架只是一角钱，但我想我这里可能有一些东西.因此，我不想完全放弃我的工作.
所以我仍然被撕毁.许可可以提供帮助，但前提是人们要诚实.我不相信将"DRM"放入我的软件.但是，我没有足够的功能来说:如果您捐赠/付款，您将获得X项其他功能！"并为此受益.
我(我)如何出售?我如何推广它并将其作为免费使用的开放源代码发布?如何为这些目的充分许可我的作品?
您对此类项目的一般政策或提示是什么?特别是当您想从中获利时，某人会商业上使用您的项目.您认为在此模型中可以使用哪些许可，限制等?
我很感谢所有可能帮助我弄清楚该怎么做的答案.
要澄清我的想法，让我补充一下:这是我的宠物项目.之所以这样做，是因为我感到它在PHP框架市场中缺乏，并一直为我自己的作品进行维护.但是，与我的大多数工作不同，我真的很想公开这一点.我希望人们能够看到，尝试，使用并使用它.
但是，我已经投入了足够的下班时间，以便将其分发出去.我赞赏开放源代码模型，但是我看不到如何免费捐赠80多个小时的工作，以增加我在软件界的声誉. PHP框架是一角钱，我认为我做了一个很好的框架，但是我敢肯定还有很多其他人也做了同样的事情.我的可能会更好，但被穷人平均的机会则相等或更大.
我很想在开放源代码的许可证下向世界发布我的宠物项目.但是，我宁愿没有人拿我的工作去做能赚到3万美元利润的软件，也不要给我一小部分.我并不贪心-我不在乎它是否只有100美元的巨额利润.
我只是想弄清楚我什至应该如何，何时或什至应该货币化.
坦率地说，您可能对框架的质量以及如何准备好以任何形式发布框架抱有过分夸大的想法.
首先，您说开发花了三个星期.好吧，如果您能在三周内做到这一点，那么其他人也可以做到这一点.
第二，发布商业产品将需要获得许可(为此需要依靠律师)，撰写文档，建立网站以推广该产品，具有某种付款方式，获得适当的法律结构来销售软件，保险(通常来说，您需要某种专业的赔偿，通常不提供赔偿就提供开源；商业软件则有所不同)，簿记，会计等.
第三，它是PHP，因此源代码保护将成为一个问题.我的建议是将其视为社会问题而不是技术问题，这意味着如果有人要窃取您的软件，您将无能为力.更重要的是，不要因为担心海盗和小偷而伤害(甚至给您带来不便)合法用户.
最后，开源的优点之一是您可以在开发中获得社区的支持.一旦投入商业交易，您就会失去它.即使您获得了双重许可，也无法接受某人的GPL(例如)代码贡献，并根据商业许可将其释放.
您可能需要钱，但是销售软件通常是一种糟糕的方式.从长远来看，应该是让人们采用您的框架来为自己建立一个配置文件和名称，而实现这一目标的最佳方法就是将其开源. Linux可能是免费的，但我可以保证Linus Torvalds可以从他的努力中获得可观的收入.
I've got a framework for PHP that I've developed for about 3 weeks total, but it's quite ready to be released ... if I choose to do so. In this economy I cannot just take what I have done and release it for free and feel just (because I need the money it could garner), and yet I am torn by my appreciation for open source projects. I want to eat and I want to share as open source. I'm sure some understand my conundrum right off the bat.
As an example of the pros and cons of my project, here's a very quick comparison against CodeIgniter. My framework is 10x faster at the base speed (blank CI versus the basic demo of mine) and gets upto 20-30x faster elsewhere. Yet, my framework lacks many things that CI has like advanced routing (with regex, or named parameters) and ORM. If I was to compare it to a similar framework in another language, I'd call my work the Sinatra, or Ramaze, of PHP.
I need some extra income. This is a flat-out fact, and yet I don't want it to be a strictly commercial project.
I like open source, and I want to contribute my own work. Yes, I know frameworks for PHP are a dime a dozen, but I think I might have something here. So, I don't want to let my work go entirely.
So I remain torn. Licensing can help, but only when people are honest. I don't believe in putting "DRM" into my software. Yet, I don't have enough features to say, "If you donate/pay you'll get X other features!" and make a benefit to this.
How do I (can I) sell this? How do I promote it and release it as open-source for free uses? How do I license my work adequately for these purposes?
What is your general policy or tips for projects like this? Especially when you want a cut of the profit someone would get using your project commercially. What licenses, restrictions, etc, do you think would work in this model?
I appreciate any answers which might help me to figure out what to do.
Edit:
To clarify on what I'm thinking, let me add this: this is my pet project. It's something that I made because I felt its lack in the market of PHP frameworks, and have been maintaining it for my own works. But, unlike most my work, I would really like to make this public. I want people to see it, try it, use it, and work with it.
However, I've put in enough off-hours time into this for it to be just given away. I appreciate the open source model, but I don't see how I can just donate some 80+ hours of work for free for a speculative increase in my "reputation" within the software world. PHP frameworks are a dime a dozen and I think I've made a good one, but I'm sure there are just as many others who've done the same. Mine may be better, but it's got an equal or greater chance of being average to poor.
I'd love to release my pet project to the world under an open source license. But, I'd rather someone not take my work and make software that nets some $30k in profits, and not give me a small slice of it. I'm not being greedy--I wouldn't care if it were only $100 for a profit that large.
I am simply trying to figure out how, when, or if I even should, monetize the work that I've done for myself.
To be absolutely frank, you probably have an overinflated idea of how good your framework is and how ready it is to be released (in any form).
Firstly, you said it took you three weeks to develop. Well if you can do it in three weeks, so can a bunch of other people and that's a fact.
Secondly, release of a commercial product would require having a license (count on a lawyer for this one), writing documentation, building a Website to promote the product, having some means of payment, getting a suitable legal structure to sell software, insurances (generally speaking you'd need some sort of professional indemnity--open source is generally provided without indemnity; commercial software is different), bookkeeping, accounting and so on.
Third, it's PHP so source code protection will be an issue. My advice would be to treat this as a social rather than technical problem, meaning if someone is going to steal your software, there's not a whole lot you can do. More to the point, don't hurt (or even inconvenience) your legitimate users for fear of pirates and thieves.
Lastly, one of the advantages of open source is that you can get community effort in development. You lose that as soon as you go commercial. Even if you go dual license, you can't take someone's GPLed (for example) code contribution and release it under a commercial license.
You may need money but selling software is generally a terrible way of doing it. A longer term view would be to have you build a profile and a name for yourself by people adopting your framework and the best way to make that happen is for it to be open source. Linux may be free but I can guarantee you Linus Torvalds earns a healthy income from his efforts.
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