I don't believe this is true. Feels like confirmation bias a bit. Lots of companies or people make money on their open source software. Vue.js, Red Hat, etc. That's just the top of mind and I'm sure there are more.
It looks like lots because you count each failure as confirming your bias, but if you correlate that against over 80% of small businesses failing then it's not a valid assumption unless you have data showing they fail at a higher rate.
Don't get me wrong this is a shitty situation for sure, but it's always sad when an entrepreneur of any stripe fails.
As an aside I think it's a more valuable conversation in general to look at the business models available to someone approaching this model of development and for us to make suggestions on how he could have built a successful product in this way and succeeded. My thoughts as a total outsider on this issue are going to be more general, but since it's my suggestion to do this I'll start.
1. I believe that when someone creates software in a broad usage category then consulting and especially training must be central to any business goals if you wish for similar projects to succeed.
2. Support contracts for large orgs are also very important because companies need security whether software is free or not. Without support contracts it's likely you won't get the kind of benefactors that are required to be financially sustainable.
3. Marketplaces seem to be in vogue as are extensions. These often work well for one very simple reason; people are paying either directly or indirectly (via their marketing of their extension) to promote your product/service. Nothing says win like others promoting your stuff for you.
4. Build a currated network of developers and promote them. Talk about them to others. Helping them is helping yourself. The more people or orgs investing in your marketplace developers the more stickiness a product will have.
5. Talk about the product everywhere. Conferences. Even start a conference around your vertical. Invite your dev circle to speak at the events. If nothing else it'll boost their careers.
Anyway that's my off the back of the napkin 'just saying' for today. I hope it helps someone who's interested in following this gentleman to Foss joy and success.
The examples you cite work in enterprise space, not when selling desktop applications to regular consumers.
Red-Hat explicitly moved away from desktop because of it. Even Ubuntu has given up and decided to pivot into IoT and server.
Average steet consumer does not care about consulting, and if some kind of training is needed they ask around to friends or local teaching associations.
The original author sees zero from those teachings and everyone in the business knows that desktop software books are more about building CV than actually living from them.
It looks like lots because you count each failure as confirming your bias, but if you correlate that against over 80% of small businesses failing then it's not a valid assumption unless you have data showing they fail at a higher rate.
Don't get me wrong this is a shitty situation for sure, but it's always sad when an entrepreneur of any stripe fails.
As an aside I think it's a more valuable conversation in general to look at the business models available to someone approaching this model of development and for us to make suggestions on how he could have built a successful product in this way and succeeded. My thoughts as a total outsider on this issue are going to be more general, but since it's my suggestion to do this I'll start.
1. I believe that when someone creates software in a broad usage category then consulting and especially training must be central to any business goals if you wish for similar projects to succeed. 2. Support contracts for large orgs are also very important because companies need security whether software is free or not. Without support contracts it's likely you won't get the kind of benefactors that are required to be financially sustainable. 3. Marketplaces seem to be in vogue as are extensions. These often work well for one very simple reason; people are paying either directly or indirectly (via their marketing of their extension) to promote your product/service. Nothing says win like others promoting your stuff for you. 4. Build a currated network of developers and promote them. Talk about them to others. Helping them is helping yourself. The more people or orgs investing in your marketplace developers the more stickiness a product will have. 5. Talk about the product everywhere. Conferences. Even start a conference around your vertical. Invite your dev circle to speak at the events. If nothing else it'll boost their careers.
Anyway that's my off the back of the napkin 'just saying' for today. I hope it helps someone who's interested in following this gentleman to Foss joy and success.
:)