can you make money by releasing open source project
 

If I've developed a large web management tool targetted to the adult market do you think I could make money by releasing as open source and charging for support etc

or should I release a 'lite' version that is open source and charge for the pro version?

suggestions? comments?

I would go for the first option.

Look at Red Hat, or MySQL. They make mills on support.

Now go develop the damn thing !

redhat/mysql are pretty core elements but the idea is the same... just wondering how many people would actually use it

i've got about 80% done so far... lots of features... just adding affilate management and want to add cascading billing

lite and pro version seems the way to go in my opinion

I would go for lite / pro version.

Another thought is to use technology such as Zend's to incorporate licenses into your software, you could then charge a monthly fee.

With Lite and Pro you only make money on the Pro.

Lite costs you money (bandwidth), and Pro earns you money right away, but puts you in the "support for life" spot.

If you're in for the money, make one version that gets more complicated and needs more paid support with each release.

If you're in for the big money, keep it closed source, sell the appliance cheap just to pay the rent, and sell the whole concept and customerbase after a few years.

if you have a great product that people will want
sell it, dont give it away

adult web market is too small to give products away for free
what i mean by small, is limited # of companies that will need your product


statsremote is a good example

If the software is only usable by adult webmasters than definatly sell it. Also, offering "Lite" version may not work THAT great... There is probably a reason why there is no "windows lite" or "photoshop lite" that is completely free