I was trying to get a program when I found out that you had to pay for it. After some time I noticed that it was also open sourced. This confused me! After a bit more digging I found that I could download a non compiled version (for free) and compile it myself.
I did this and the program worked fine!
My question is:
What are the advantages to having an open sourced free product?
You can pay for open source software. With Open Source, the source code must be made available, and provide options for forking and the like. Compiled versions can be paid for.
Like many other programs, open source software is generally similar to proprietary software. For developers, they can get their hands on code, and fork and experiment. For consumers, many might not see much of a difference, except that they may see it as open information.
Nothing prevents charging for open source software. In fact, if a license forbids charging for the software, it is not free/open-source, because it violates the freedom to distribute.
Charging for open source software may seem pointless, because once the author has sold it to someone, they can't prevent the buyer from making as many copies as they like and giving them out for free. However there are cases where it makes sense.
Some companies make money by writing custom software, tailored for a client's very specific needs. The resulting software may be open source, either because the client requires it, or the company prefers it this way, or the software is derived from some generic software with a license that doesn't allow closed-source derivatives. In such cases, the customer pays because they want this software that's purpose-built for their needs, that nobody would bother to write if they didn't pay. Typically there wouldn't be many other people who'd be interested in having a copy anyway, and even if there are, the customer could be paying just to be the first to have the software.
Some companies charge for their packaging of the software. People may be prepared to pay to get nice installers, or even just binaries for their platform. If the software has a permissive license that allows non-free derivatives, the seller may put a restrictive license on the binaries that doesn't limits the number of copies the driver may make and forbids redistribution. If the software has a copyleft license, the buyer is allowed to redistribute the binary, so it's a small market.
In the days before cheap Internet bandwidth, most people got their open source software on CDs. The CD distributors obviously charge for their work of pressing CDs, shipping them, etc. The CD itself may or may not be copied for free, depending on whether it also contains non-free software and whether the collection may count as a legally protected database (see Distributing an operating system DVD bundling proprietary and GNU-GPL software?).
Paying to install an open source program on a platform where deploying an application requires a fee is a more modern equivalent. iOS is a famous example: you need Xcode to make a package that you can install on your device, and you need a Mac to run Xcode; until recently you also needed a developer account with a yearly fee. Here the buyer is paying not because they can't obtain the software otherwise, but because they can't install the software otherwise.
There are many different succesful business models for Free Software and Open Source software. Wikipedia even has a long article devoted to the subject.
I am not going to reproduce that long WikiPedia article here, but rather focus on one of these business models - Selling professional services - with a bit more detail that what is provided by Wikipedia.
The problem for many small software companies is to actually get anyone to look at their amazing software. If the brand is not well not known, or the software not generally acknowledged as "amazing", it may be real hard to get a customer to look at it. If the customer has to pay up-front to have a look, that hurdle is even bigger. Even if it is free, but crippled (free only for thirty days, etc.), many prospective customers will not bother. Their time is valuable, too valuable to spend on crippleware. Also, if your company is small, your customer cannot be sure you survive. If they pay good money for closed source software, and the company behind it implodes, there will be no more support and no more releases. This renders most software useless after some time.
Free software addresses all these concerns:
However, so far I've only pointed out the advantages of free software for the customer. You, the author, haven't seen any money yet.
What may happen if you do this, if your software truly is good and generally useful, is that you'll see thousands of downloads. Most of those will indeed use the software for free, and never earn you a penny.
However, you have users (hopefully thousands), and some of these users will want professional services. That this:
The business model for professional services is not unique to free software. This is the usually a profitable business model for proprietary software.
However, if you're a small software company, you may never see your software used by anyone if you go the proprietary route. There are too many barriers between you and any users. With free software, you may get thousands of users, and if only a fraction of those sign up for professional services, you still will have a healthy business.
If software is open source, then anyone who has a copy can legally make it free online, whether the original author does or not.
Doing that has the advantage of being helpful to others who want to use it, as well as potentially enhancing the reputation and influence of the person who does it.
