Commercialization models for open source
As open source projects can have many forms, from code snippets to fully featured applications, the models of commercialization are different. Additionally, the license you choose impacts commercialization, as leveraging code under more copyleft licenses adds more complexities than code under permissive licenses.
The commercial model of open source has evolved over the years, but we generally see one of three models. Let’s look at them now.
Dependency or component of a larger commercial software package
The first model involves using open source software as a dependency or component of a larger commercial software package. This is probably the most common example of open source software in commercial usage, and often the one most people don’t see. Figure 10.2 illustrates what the typical application stack looks like concerning open source:
Figure 10.2 – Breakdown of a typical application...
