Exploring Open Source Technology: Practical Insights into Business Models

Summary

本期播客邀请了开源技术专家Kinga，深入讨论了开源软件的概念及其与专有软件的区别。Kinga介绍了其公司Workless的开源产品，并分享了开源的商业模式，包括提供企业级支持服务、云服务和插件开发。讨论还涉及了开源许可证的类型，如AGPL和宽松许可证，以及开源软件在安全性、社区反馈和产品影响方面的潜在优势。Kinga强调了开源不仅是为了经济利益，更是为了对世界产生积极影响，提高全球生产力。

Takeaways

• 👋 开源技术讨论：本次播客邀请了Kinger作为嘉宾，讨论了开源技术及其产品Workless。
• 💡 开源定义：开源即公开应用程序背后的源代码，允许公众使用、修改和分发。
• 🛠️ 开源与专有软件的区别：开源软件允许用户访问和修改源代码，而专有软件则限制这些权限。
• 📜 开源许可证：通过不同的许可证和商业模式来管理开源项目，如AGPL和GPL等。
• 🏢 企业使用开源的优势：企业可以通过自托管产品减少SaaS模式下的成本，提高成本效益。
• 🔌 开源插件模式：通过第三方开发者创建插件来扩展平台功能，适应不同行业需求。
• 🌐 全球化影响：开源项目能够被全球数百万甚至数十亿人使用，如WordPress。
• 🔒 安全性考量：开源软件的代码可以被众多人审计和改进，提高了安全性。
• 🤝 社区协作：开源鼓励社区成员之间的协作，共同改进产品。
• 🚌 巴士因子：开源项目不依赖于单一开发者或团队，即使核心成员离开，项目仍可继续。
• 💡 创业心态：开源不仅是经济模式，也是对世界的贡献，提高全球生产力。

Q & A

什么是开源技术？

开源技术指的是将应用程序背后的代码公开给公众，允许人们使用、修改和分发源代码。这是一种相对新颖且有些看似荒谬的想法，因为它涉及到将私有产品或服务的代码开放给外界。

开源软件与专有软件的主要区别是什么？

开源软件允许用户访问、修改和分发源代码，而专有软件则不允许这些操作，通常需要购买许可证或订阅服务来使用。

开源软件的商业模式有哪些？

开源软件可以通过多种方式实现商业化，例如通过提供支持服务、云解决方案、插件开发等。企业可以选择自托管产品或使用开源软件供应商提供的云服务。

为什么有些企业会选择将他们的产品开源？

企业可能出于多种原因选择开源他们的产品，比如增加产品的可见性和影响力、吸引社区贡献、降低开发成本、提高产品质量和安全性等。

开源软件的许可证有哪些类型，它们之间有什么区别？

开源许可证有多种类型，如GPL、MIT、Apache等。其中，Copyleft许可证（如GPL）要求任何基于该代码的衍生作品也必须开源，而宽松许可证（如MIT、Apache）则没有这样的要求。

开源软件在安全性方面有哪些优势？

由于开源软件的代码可以被成千上万的人审计和改进，因此在某些情况下，它可能比专有软件更安全。社区的广泛参与有助于快速发现和修复安全漏洞。

企业在选择开源解决方案时应该考虑哪些因素？

企业在选择开源解决方案时，应该考虑许可证的兼容性、社区的活跃度、产品的稳定性和成熟度、以及是否能够满足企业特定的业务需求。

为什么有些开发者或企业对开源持有保留态度？

一些开发者或企业可能担心开源会削弱他们对其创造物的控制权，或者担心无法从开源产品中获得足够的经济回报。

开源产品如何确保其可持续发展？

开源产品可以通过提供专业服务、云服务、接受捐赠、以及开发增值插件等方式来确保可持续发展。

开源软件的'bus factor'是什么？

“bus factor”是指如果项目的关键贡献者（比如核心开发者）遭遇不测（比如被'bus'撞了），项目能否继续维持和发展的能力。开源项目由于社区的广泛参与，通常具有较高的'bus factor'。

如何理解开源对于产品创新和社区发展的贡献？

开源鼓励知识共享和技术协作，可以吸引全球的开发者和用户参与到产品的创新过程中来。这不仅能够加速产品的发展，还能够促进技术社区的成长和多元化。

Outlines

00:00

😀 开源技术介绍与Workless产品概述

本段落介绍了嘉宾Kinga作为企业家和学者的背景，以及她在斯里兰卡经营技术公司的经历。Kinga讨论了开源技术的概念，即公开应用程序背后的源代码，并解释了开源与专有软件的区别。她提到了开源社区中存在的多种许可证和商业模式，以及她的公司如何通过开源产品Workless与社区互动。

05:01

💡 开源软件的经济模型与企业优势

Kinga探讨了开源软件的经济模型，包括软件即服务(SaaS)模式和自托管产品的优势。她解释了Workless的商业模式，包括提供企业级客户支持、云服务和插件开发。Kinga强调了开源软件在成本效益、社区贡献和产品改进方面的潜在优势，以及如何通过这些方式为世界提供价值。

10:03

🔑 开源许可证的类型与选择

本段讨论了开源许可证的两种主要类型：Copyleft许可证和Permissive许可证。Kinga解释了两者之间的区别，即Copyleft要求修改后的代码也必须开源，而Permissive许可证则没有这一要求。她提到Workless选择了AGPL作为其开源许可证，并讨论了这种选择对公司SaaS模式和云解决方案的影响。

15:03

🛡️ 开源软件的安全性讨论

Kinga讨论了开源软件在安全性方面的优势，指出由于源代码可以被广泛审计，因此可能比专有软件更安全。她提到了开源项目如WordPress的普及，以及它们如何通过社区的广泛使用和反馈来提高安全性。此外，她还提到了开源软件在提供产品持续性和减少对单一供应商依赖方面的好处。

20:04

🤔 开源与知识产权的心理与哲学考量

Kinga分享了她对于开源与知识产权的看法，强调了创造产品以服务更广泛用户群体的重要性。她讨论了开源如何促进产品反馈和分发，并提供了产品持续性的保证。Kinga认为，尽管开源可能意味着放弃某些知识产权，但这有助于为世界提供更好的产品和服务，从而产生更大的影响。

🙌 结束语与对未来讨论的期待

在视频脚本的最后，主持人感谢Kinga参与讨论并分享了关于开源的见解。他们期待基于观众的反馈继续深入讨论，并探索如何通过开源解决实际问题，推动斯里兰卡的商业和社区发展。

Keywords

💡开源

开源指的是将软件的源代码公开，允许任何人自由使用、修改和分发。在视频中，开源是讨论的核心主题，嘉宾Kinga介绍了开源的概念，并讨论了其与专有软件的不同之处。例如，开源软件允许用户查看应用背后的代码，而专有软件则不会公开。

💡专有软件

专有软件是指那些源代码不公开，由特定公司拥有和控制的软件。这类软件通常需要购买许可证才能使用。在视频中，专有软件与开源软件形成对比，讨论了它们在经济模型和使用权限上的差异。

💡许可证

开源许可证是规定开源软件如何使用、修改和分发的法律文档。视频中提到了不同类型的开源许可证，如GPL和AGPL，它们对软件的使用和分发有不同的要求。许可证的选择对开源项目的治理和商业模式有重要影响。

💡商业模式

商业模式是指企业如何创造、传递和捕获价值的方式。在视频中，讨论了开源软件的商业模式，包括提供企业级服务、云服务和插件等。这些模式有助于开源项目在不直接从软件销售中获利的情况下，实现经济上的可持续性。

💡SaaS（软件即服务）

SaaS是一种软件许可和交付模式，用户通过互联网访问和使用软件，而不是在本地计算机上安装。视频中提到SaaS作为开源软件的一种商业模式，用户可以按需租用技术，而不必承担高昂的本地部署成本。

💡自托管

自托管指的是用户在自己的服务器上部署和运行软件，而不是依赖第三方的服务提供商。视频中提到，开源软件允许企业选择自托管，这样可以更好地控制数据和降低成本。

💡插件

插件是一种软件组件，用于扩展现有软件平台的功能。在视频中，提到了通过创建插件来扩展开源平台的可能性，允许第三方开发者为平台增加新的功能，如集成和安全特性。

💡安全性

安全性涉及保护系统免受未经授权的访问和其他安全威胁。视频中讨论了开源软件的安全性，指出由于源代码的公开，可以由众多开发者进行审计和改进，从而提高安全性。

💡社区

开源社区是由贡献者、用户和开发者组成的群体，他们共同参与和支持开源项目。视频中强调了社区在开源项目中的重要性，社区的参与可以带来创新、改进和支持。

💡知识产权

知识产权是指对创造性作品的法律保护，包括版权、专利等。视频中讨论了在开源背景下，如何平衡知识产权的保护和共享，以及开放源代码对创新和协作的促进作用。

💡产品

产品是指企业提供给市场以满足需求的任何商品或服务。视频中提到的产品是指开源软件产品，如Workless，它们通过开源模式提供给用户，以实现更广泛的应用和改进。

Highlights

开源技术讨论，Kinger作为嘉宾分享对开源的理解及其产品Workless的介绍。

Kinger介绍了自己作为企业家和学者的双重身份，以及在斯里兰卡乡村经营技术公司12年的经历。

解释了开源软件的概念，即公开应用程序背后的源代码供公众使用、修改和分发。

讨论了开源与专有软件的不同，以及开源社区通过不同许可证和商业模式进行管理的方式。

Kinger分享了将产品Workless开源的动机，包括提供服务、云解决方案和插件扩展。

探讨了开源软件的经济模型，特别是对于企业级客户如何通过开源解决方案降低成本。

介绍了开源许可的两种类型：Copyleft许可证和Permissive许可证，以及它们之间的基本区别。

讨论了开源软件在安全性方面的优势，如代码审计和社区贡献改善安全措施。

Kinger强调了开源不仅是为了经济利益，更是为了对世界产生积极影响和提供好的产品。

提到了开源产品可以避免“巴士因子”问题，即关键开发者离开后项目依然可以持续运行。

讨论了企业在选择开源解决方案时应考虑的许可证问题和对原始供应商的双重许可可能性。

Kinger分享了Workless选择AGPL许可证的原因，以及它如何适合公司的SaaS和自托管版本。

强调了开源对于提高全球生产力的重要性，以及Workless在政府机构中的潜在应用。

讨论了开源对于个人和企业的心理影响，以及放弃专有权利以获得更广泛反馈和分布的决策。

Kinger表达了对于开源的深刻理解，认为它是提供给世界好东西的一种方式，而不仅仅是为了金钱。

讨论了如何通过开源产品吸引全球数百万用户的反馈，以提高产品的安全性和质量。

最后，Kinger对参与讨论表示感谢，并期待未来有更多的交流和讨论。

Transcripts

[Music]

hello and welcome to our PE

talk today we have a special guest to

speak about open source

technology K is here and I warmly

welcome Kinga a good friend of mine to

speak about and discuss

about uh what is open

source and I thought you are the right

person to speak since you already have

your own open source

product it is

workless so before starting whole

discussion caring

can you give a introduction about

yourselves that our audience will get to

know about you hi thank you lushka for

having me for your um great uh

podcast um so my name is kinger and I'm

um I'm sort of an entrepreneur as well

as an academic um I teach at the

University plus I I build products and

um we are running a company a tech

company in rural Sri Lanka probably 200

kilometers away from the capital for the

last 12 years so we build products we

build games and we do some uh little bit

of a Services as well so that's pretty

much about me and um

yeah and King starting with your

workland

product uh you got I mean you said that

it's open source right can you tell us

what is open source uh mean and you know

for people who like what made you think

uh differentiating I would say uh

differentiating from propr you know

proprietary software to uh open

source right so open source in the sense

as it sounds it's basically you know

revealing the code that uh behind the uh

application into the public so it it's

uh you know it's kind of a new new thing

and kind of a ridiculous idea as well

like you know if you if you build kind

of an open open you know if you build

kind of a proprietary product why we

need to make it open right so um so to

your qu question the answer is like you

know we are simply opening the code

behind the application to the public so

that's uh basically open source so um in

in the open source World there are

number of ways to govern govern this

thing which

is you know through various licenses and

various business models are there so uh

it's an interesting you know Valley to

experience right so the open source valy

so um so that's uh basically what open

source

is calling to deep into the right to use

modify and distribution which is

something um a proprietary for example

if if I built if I'm a software

developer I built something which is is

my creation which is my proprietary

right so whereas in open source

Community like you know once you give it

to the

community whoever who receives is able

to use that source code which is the the

software which is the coding behind that

product service a product particularly

and also to modify it and also to use

and you know you know benefit the the

developer and redistribute as well so I

think the audience would love to you

know hear from you particularly when you

decide that look my proprietary which is

my own Creations I'm giving it to uh to

the open source community so that what

is your economic model what's what is

your gain on giving up your propriety

rights right so this is you know this is

a very nice time to make products open

source right so you know early days um

uh we had you know still we have things

like SAS soft as a service service model

which is like you know you are you know

you basically renting the

technology uh for your work for an

example if you're paying per user per

month pricing you're basically renting

their product and uh building your

infrastructure or your data set on top

of their

platform

right it's it's fine it's fine but the

problem is let's say if if it's a large

large

corporation so the cost of SAS billing

will exponentially go high and uh

because of you know because of the users

and because of the pricing right but

Enterprises can't reduce the cost if

they have like you know expon

exponentially growing cost of SAS

billing right so that then uh the the

other other workaround is to get

selfhosted

products uh into their companies and uh

run their run the things from their own

um but the but the uh when it comes com

to the business model of the open source

that we have at work lens there are one

primary way is to release the product

into you know their own tenants our

users tenants or their own servers as a

self husted or we can call it as on

premise

Solutions um uh to their need so that's

you know then we we can give you know

the support and we can give them the you

know the different level of service uh

level

agreements uh for for the benefit of

their uh work but when it comes to you

know um when it comes to the the the

other other model that we can have is

like you know if if anybody can't you

know host it on their own we can use

they can use our Cloud solution as well

and the other thing is the other

economic model that what we are thinking

is to create plugins which is actually

extending the existing platform into

numerous Industries uh uh by third party

developers like probably the

Integrations probably the security

features they can be it can be a plug-in

and we can extend the platform on top of

it so which is actually kind of nice

thing because you know since we are

living in Sri Lanka so we we need to

understand our strengths weaknesses and

opportunities also the threat

so as as developers as

Engineers as innovators so if you want

to offer good things to the world I

think open source is one of

the best way that we can offer good

things to the world right so it's

actually opening the P opening our code

Opening Our Innovations to the public

and lot of lot of talented Engineers a

lot of talented coders thinkers can

collaborate with us to build better

products so which is kind of a nice

thing right so um that's what we are

currently just to just to summarize what

you said you said that in your economic

model because you see you are a software

development company and and the reason

you wanted to make it open source is

that uh you can provide certain services

for Enterprise level customers on

premises and second would be the cloud

services that you can offer to them

right third would be to provide plugins

right so those are the main reasons that

or the economic model that you basically

built in this open source um sort of

environment right yes so moving to that

now it's it's you as a as a developer or

a software development company or

software service company that gets so if

you consider the Enterprise level right

so you you were earlier address issue

the reduce you know they can reduce

substantial cost element from that right

and other than the cost element what

what should on Enterprise devel company

should look for to obtain open-source uh

Solutions and um can you give a certain

insightful U thought of that looking at

the uh for the Enterprises they can you

know they can think of the the you know

you know the licenses right uh probably

open source licenses might you know

little bit tricky actually but you know

for Enterprises we you know they might

need to have uh uh might need to have

kind of an understanding about the

licenses plus you know if the original

vendor can dual license it um for the

specific uh Enterprises that might be

the best way so uh then they can have

the best of both worlds meaning like you

know the a lot of people are improving

the product at the same time uh from the

community while they will while the

companies can get the benefit uh from uh

the open source code into the co

Enterprises with a different license

which is kind of a good thing right so

these things like we can that that's

probably the way the way so also like

bringing the the topic of Licensing so I

would like to uh you know explain if you

can right briefly explain about

two license basically the copy left

license of of Open Source and also the

permissive license

so what's basic difference between those

I know there are different types of

Licensing also but those two are mainly

uh is commonly used license categories

right

yeah yes yes you're correct so open

source license are little bit tricky as

I said early so it's it's a quite a big

Spectrum which is having one end is

actually the copy left licensing meaning

you know whatever the things that you do

or whatever the things that you modify

you need to release to the public right

the other thing is the permissive end

which is the you know um you know you

can modify the code you can use it for

you know commercial or any any use but

you don't need to re release the code

both of these have both of these ends

have their own pros and cons so at work

lens we selected agpl F GPL license

which is

actually uh we think it's good for for

us uh because we are running our own SAS

model as well a Cloud solution plus self

hosted versions but for you know let's

say if it's a

developer uh licenses let's say you know

if you're are integrating with the

developer products or internal

products might be agpl might not be the

best way so they can go for the

permissive licenses so that's uh that's

basically the the two ends of this

licensing right so um so it

depends no for for audience uh so you

you you basically your workpl product

comes under the category of uh AGP right

afro general public license there's a

copy left license in return what you get

is uh the community should provide the

uh amendments or the modifications that

happens to your source code so that it

builds and it

validates right

uh right so um and also moving uh to the

another area of discussion is how about

the context of security in terms of

using open source softwares a security

TR or how how do you think the

organization should you know consider on

that aspect so security threat is

actually you know rather than going for

the proprietary product it might be the

best way to go with open source to a

certain extent because the code can be

audited by thousands of people and these

guys can you know improve the security

measures inside of the product so rather

than going for the proprietary product

but I'm not saying it's like 100%

correct argument but it's having its own

pros and cons but um to a certain extent

I don't think security measures security

problems will be uh the decision factor

for going for the open source because a

lot of there are a lot of good open

source projects out there like you using

by millions of billions of people one of

the very good example is the WordPress

so WordPress is a 100% open source

product so I think more than 40% of the

world web is on um on on WordPress I I

probably my number is wrong but majority

of the worldwide web is actually on

WordPress which is you know that's the

power of the open source the

distribution is a key so um so we can

distribute this product into a lot of

people millions of people so you know

rather than going for 100 people it's

going for Millions millions of people so

that's Millions million feedback rather

than 100 feedback so if if you want to

have the security measures that's not

100 security measures that's millions of

security measures right millions of use

cases how to improve our security inside

of the product which is a really good

thing

right right calling another thing that I

want to discuss particularly with regard

to it development and this is like an

attitude towards many of the

organization which is this is my

creation the concept of the proprietary

nature which is uh to say that why would

I give the

freedom of of modification using and uh

the context which

I

created now just to address because

since you're entrepreneur I want to ask

you sort of the not the economic aspect

but also the this the sense of uh you

looking into the

problem how you define this intellectual

property context in open source now you

wanted to build something and I make it

public and still I won't R my ownership

like something like you know creation of

intellectual property but also getting

the feedback that as you said security

would be increased lot of validation

validation can be done through Open

Source Products what my question is like

the psychological aspect of it you know

people want to retain their honesty they

wanted to keep their intellectual

property they don't want to compete and

those are like the the

basic you

know business sentiments so how would

you think that would uh you as

entrepreneur since you have see it

what's your insightful thought on that

you know

when it comes to this kind of aspects

right we need to

understand why we are building products

right so the products needs to is it for

hundreds or is it for millions or is it

for billions right we will products not

for thousands but for Millions right to

go for Millions we need to find a

strategic way to do that right so there

are compromises on that that is totally

fine if they are not paying for us for

open source code that is totally fine

but feedback is much more important

distribution is much more important

plus we are giving good things to the

world right so before we are dying we

are offering good things right even now

like you know there's a thing called bus

Factor what will happen if you are hit

by a bus right what will happen to the

people who are using the product right

but now the users can't you know they

don't want to worry because if if we are

we hitting we all hit by a bus then um

the the other day they can use our open

source code and run it run the product

from from their own so that's kind of a

security and Assurance will come

automatically for an open source product

right so you

know open sourcing is not you know we

are not 100% focused on the money like

you know that's a different story we

need money that's uh but know it's not

the first the first is to make an impact

into the teams the productive

organizations and making productive

organizations in the world so that's our

you know let's say you know the work

lens can be a product that we can use in

the government right we actually

speaking with couple of government

institutions at the moment right

they they will definitely use it

if if they are increasing their

productivity as a country as a world we

are imp improving our productivity as a

whole if you are not open sourcing they

we cannot do that right so that's one of

the benefits that we are now looking at

right it's not the money it's something

else um yeah I hope you can get got my

the answer compl I

completely taken your point and uh

um basically thanking King for joining

with us today and providing us

insightful uh thoughts about open source

and how it affects

basically you know the economic model

one should

consider and we we we wanted to make

this discussion and to continue this

discussion so that based on the comments

that we have we will improve our our P

stop discussion so what we want is to

see the

insightful ideas and to how to see to to

grow Sri Lankan

business and also it Community to see

how how exactly we can solve problems

and this initiative is basically for

that purpose so I'm again thanking

kinger for joining us with us today and

we will uh see again is anything uh else

that calling you wanted to add to the

audience or discussion congratulations

your uh on your first uh

podcast yes okay and

uh then um see we'll meet again with

another discussion like this thank you

all very much thank you thank you