making money by choosing what to give away
Open Source, Incentives, and Why 'Monetize Later' Often Backfires
How misaligned incentives undermine open source projects — and why 'monetize later' often leads to the very restrictions open source was meant to avoid.
Is open source wealth distribution fair?
These concrete value propositions can convince companies to pay open source maintainers.
Gifthood — an open gifting community
Neighbors giving freely. Free things, offered and asked for by the people who live near you, on an open network you actually own. No money, no marketplace, no catch.
Fueling Open Source with Vibes & Money
Economists think Open Source is a business model. Devs know better, and fund it accordingly.
Money, Money, Money - Writing software, in a rich (wo)man's world by Russell Keith-Magee
Open Source Doesn’t Make Money Because It Isn’t Designed To Make Money
We all know the story: you can’t make money on open source. Is it really true?
There is NO Open Source Business Model
Preface: It has been brought to my attention by friends and trusted advisors that a valid interpretation of my point below is that open…
Raise, manage and disburse money with full transparency.
Open Collective is a legal and financial toolbox for groups. It’s a fundraising + legal status + money management platform for your community. What do you want to do?
Open Source is four kinds of economic goods
Open Source code and the stewardship around it have different economics. That distinction helps show what a project might charge for, what it must budget for, and how it could fund stewardship without making the code less open.
Let’s talk about money
When we were building the first version of Open Collective, we found that communities and their members often had a complex relationship…
Exploring the Frontier of Feeds - The Open Garden
Reorienting distribution and monetization in the attention economy.
Exploring the Frontier of Feeds - The Open Garden
Reorienting distribution and monetization in the attention economy.
The Meaning of Open
There are a lot of misconceptions about what open means, when it is the right strategy to apply, and the fundamental tradeoffs that go…
The Unsolvable Dilemma: Open Networks vs. Economic Sustainability - Nightflight
A conversation with a Fediverse core developer revealed the structural problem: donation models fail, and even specialized contributors can't make a living.…
Open source is sometimes played within the magic circle. When money enters, it becomes a different game. When switching from one game to another, participants often feel betrayed. So, know which one you want to play and be clear about the rules! blog.zaratan.world/p/the-magic-circle
The Magic Circle
blog.zaratan.world