is Custom development benificial?

[birbal]

There is almost everything which was previously developed and running well. does it make sense to make another application on same? can it be commercially beneficial?eg if you look into popular CMS they have most of things already built in either in core feature or as add-ons, I tried to ask myself that why should any one built a custom solution to a problem where there has been already a solution. Even there is existing solution still people developing custom one from scratch for commercial purpose. why? I am into something that i built from scratch and wish to used as SAaS later. That started for mainly portfolio enhancement but there was little intention to use it for commercially later. I am little aware of software licesncing or marketing. as far i know open source software cant be use as paid service. I beilve thats apply to all of open source genre incluidng popular CMS? There is kind of same addon (not sure it was paid or free) of what i am doing in some CMS and some open source solution. will it be wise to push it to commercial purpose or getting revenue somehow? how should i approach? or it will not click as commercial apps and best i can use it as portfolio enhancement and make it open source? any other insight about it would be helpful. please share your views and experience on it.

Edited March 22, 2013 by birbal

[justsomeguy]

People make new software simply because they think they can do it better than the competition, or they can come with better features. As for open source, an open source license doesn't say how you must use the software. Something like the GPL just says that if you are selling your software (specifically, distributing it), then you need to also provide the source code for it to your customers. There is some discussion about whether an online service constitutes distribution, I think the GPL v3 tried to address that issue. The GPL in particular is also described as being viral, meaning that if you use GPL-licensed code in your application, then your entire application needs to be licensed under the GPL. If you're interested in putting an open source license on your work then you would want to look into the various licenses and see what they do and don't allow. Publishing open source projects or contributing to other open source projects is a good way to build your resume though, it shows that you're able to work with other developers and if your contributions are accepted then you're also able to write code that meets community standards.

[birbal]

I dont understand that like why IPB boards is successful where as they are quite same (as per feature) open source software like BB and others. I am mostly concerned towards open source software. If something is free and do the same job no one will pay for other. which license restrict to use open source software as SAAs? I worked alone on this. so i don think it will vouch for that i can work with other developer (which i have no experience) , if i make this open source. actually I am more interested to start it as SAaS.

Edited March 23, 2013 by birbal

[thescientist]

Support. When you pay for things, you are presupposing a certain level of customer service will be provided. If you work for a business and paying for things like software, you're probably not in the position/capacity to be figuring out how to install/debug/troubleshoot it all on your own, it will need to just work, out of the box.Also, one could also argue the psychology whereby people might think that if something is free then it is lacking in some way.

Edited March 24, 2013 by thescientist

[justsomeguy]

I dont understand that like why IPB boards is successful where as they are quite same (as per feature) open source software like BB and others. I am mostly concerned towards open source software. If something is free and do the same job no one will pay for other.

You just cited IPB as a paid service that competes with open source, there are plenty of people who don't want to install and maintain their own software. We're in the same situation, our product competes with open source products but people still pay us to host their software. One of the things we offer that open source projects don't necessarily offer (other than support) is that we will implement whatever features they want. They tell us what they want to see, we figure out the best way to do it and quote it for them, if they agree they pay, and once it's finished they get the new feature they wanted and we also roll that into the main product so that other people get it also. Each of our customers ends up getting all of the features that any other customer paid for. That's similar to the open source model, but our customers don't need to hire their own programmers to implement those features. This model is apparently attractive enough for us to have customers from international corporations to single-person businesses. For another example, look at Red Hat. Their entire business model is centered around Linux, and they are a billion dollar company.

[birbal]

One of the things we offer that open source projects don't necessarily offer (other than support) is that we will implement whatever features they want. They tell us what they want to see, we figure out the best way to do it and quote it for them, if they agree they pay, and once it's finished they get the new feature they wanted and we also roll that into the main product so that other people get it also.

Something like that i was thinking before. good to hear from you. i also was not aware about red hat. thanks for the inputs everyone. I will see what could be done on this.