Open Source and Business

I have long been looking for an idea for business. There were a lot of them, but something was always lacking. Many people say that I thought up something, then do it right away, but I could not because I didn’t hear - MY! inside yourself.

So, in search of an idea, I began to study the market, read business forums, look for answers. But everything is the same everywhere and not interesting. In the evening I received a newsletter and, after reading about the new FireFox, I downloaded it. Put, configured, downloaded plugins. And it suddenly struck me! What does Mozilla earn on? What is the basis of open source? A crowd of enthusiasts working for cookies? Or a well-thought-out business that brings joy to both customers and creators?

Thinking, I decided to start exploring the problem of creating an open source company. I believe that a well-planned and implemented business in this area will give the creator a lot of advantages . Well, firstly, you will have a large number of users who want to help you, send you bug reports, etc ... And all this is free. Then, if your company is very prolific, then you will have large partners, because it is very profitable for them to show themselves as people who give money to charity. And the third is that if you make truly innovative products, you will always have respect from everyone.

But where to start? How to make it all work. This article, I call to the discussion! I now have two most important questions.
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Question 1:
What do the Open Source companies earn from? Do not we see that open source software is becoming more and more on the market, but what do they eat? Not for cookies work! Or, as many people say to me - support, documentation, etc., but when I ask - give a more complete answer, you cannot really say anything.

Question 2:
And most importantly! I traced and analyzed the work and life of many Open Source Companies, but they are not Russian bourgeois . Yes, we have a couple of companies, such as AltLinux and ASPLinux, but they are just engaged in the resale and small modification of the existing Linux in millions of varieties. And you just want to create something new or do something that is across the ocean, but not with us. But how to make this business model work in Russia? I do not know…

I hope there are many interested people who will be glad to help me, and maybe myself.

What is Open Source on Wikipedia
And examples of companies that interest me a lot and envy them a little ...
Source forge
Mozilla