Openversion blog

We all know that open source rules. The open source grows exponentially. Many people simply refuse to use software which is not open sourced. Companies want to have full control of what they use and many of them discover that open source is what they need.

The idea

Ok, you’ll ask, so what, what is OpenVersion? And what OpenVersion has to do to with that? First of all I’ll try to explain how OpenVersion started and what it is. It all started during a coffee break when talking to my colleague about the increasing quality of the open source projects and how the user base is growing rapidly, we started thinking that there should be an “open market” where users could pay for the free software, if they want to. We were including in this market the “average Joe” open source user too, not only those that choose a commercial license for an open source project.

And the idea we had, in simple words, is this:
I am an open source user. I use Ubuntu as my primary OS, and I love the note-taking application Tomboy. I see the improvements and the new features from version to version.
And there is a small feature that I wish my favorite program would have, which is currently missing. I would definitely pay a small amount, like 10$ to have it implemented. But 10$ from me is not such a big incentive for the developers behind the project.
Our bet is that I am not the only one wishing that feature X existed, and more, I am not the only one willing to pay for it. If we take this idea and apply it to a community, probably one feature might get 10 or 20 or 30 times 10$ sponsorships, which slowly takes the developer towards a real paycheck.

How it works

In a few words that is the idea behind OpenVersion. How it works? It’s simple:

Developer - You have a project, hosted somewhere, and maybe a forum where to get user feedback. You can add the project to OpenVersion and let the users know that they can add their requests.

User - You are a user of some open source software added to OpenVersion. You propose new features, vote the ones you like and agree to pay 5$ when the feature you really need will be ready.

Developer - As a developer, you choose a few features you can implement and you start implementing them. The users get notified about it.

Developer - You finish implementing them. The users get notified.

User - Get the latest version. Be happy. You like the implemented features and pay 5$ for the feature you agreed to.

Developer - Now you have a better piece of code, more user friendly and you got about 5$ from 100 users. You are rich :D.

The Concept

• User Driven

Those days successful open source projects needs to rely on a highly active communities and must find the best ways to fulfill their needs.

• Voting Future Features.

We believe user voting is the best way to find the most wanted features.

• A paycheck Creating Free Software

This is the model we consider is the missing link in the open source software. People who really need certain features can pay for having them implemented and the programmer can get a paycheck for his work.

And finally if you still don’t have a “clear” picture, here it is:

Of course all the characters in this picture are pure fictional, except that guy in a suit who reminds me of some of my ex-bosses, except the geeky guy with the snowboard and many ideas and except the other two guys. If you don’t identify with none of the characters above, send us your picture, we can add you somewhere in the flow.

Girls, don’t be worried there are only guys in the flow, it’s just because I couldn’t find a suitable girl character.

You can take a look on www.openversion.com.