openerp-community team mailing list archive

[Fabien Pinckaers <fp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 02/11/2013 03:57 PM, Alexandre Bairos wrote:
> I think i missed the point. Wordpress is
> GPL http://wordpress.org/about/gpl/  and has one of the most successful
> marketplaces around it, things like themeforest.com
> <http://themeforest.com> , which is a killer app, with lots of payed
> themes available and services around it.

Hello,


1/ Ability to finance developments by selling modules

The difference between Wordpress and OpenERP is the mass of users on
these two applications. Due to its ERP nature, OpenERP will always have
less users than a good open source CMS:
  http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=openerp,wordpress

So, the potential to become profitable by selling modules with OpenERP
is highly reduced compared to Wordpress. As the open source nature of
OpenERP creates a strong incentive to shrink prices, it's nearly
impossible to cover development costs by selling modules. --> Just
imagine that someone can easily take the modules you sell at 300 EUR and
sell them at 1 EUR, or distribute them for free.

We tried in the past, and we failed. Those revenues will always be
significantly lower than what you can do by selling services.


2/ Strong incentive of having open source modules

The other difference between Wordpress and OpenERP is that the value or
quality of Wordpress do not increase significantly with each module.

As OpenERP modules are strongly integrated, things are very different.
With OpenERP, a module can increase the value of all other modules which
is one of the reason of the success of OpenERP. (every one benefit from
the new kanban view, the chatter feature, or the DMS, no matter if you
use CRM, project, or accounting).

As an example, modules like a "Spanish localisation" or "Open Chatter"
create a strong value for customers whatever the module they use. If
those features were not open source, OpenERP could never have grown like
we did in the past years.

You can not do business with OpenERP in specific countries if the
localisation is not open source. You can still do business with
wordpress if not all the themes are open source.


3/ Our partner network is a "service company" network, not a network of
software publishers companies

Nearly all community modules of OpenERP have been developed for, and
financed by, specific customers. They work well for the customer but are
far from being usable by the mass, out-of-the-box.

If we allow partners to resell their modules, they will start selling
modules they developed for others customers. We know these modules will
not fit most of the needs in terms of functional scope, quality,
documentation, etc.

So, not only the partner will be frustrated because the revenue are
probably much lower than what they would have expected, but also the
customer will be frustrated because the module does not fit it's need.
That's something we want to avoid.

Moreover, some modules on OpenERP are so complex (countries
localisation, magento interface, ...) that they require several months
of developments and feedback of hundreds contributors in order to become
mature.

As an example, I do not think that a single company would be able to
develop a localisation alone, without having feedback and contributions.


This is strongly related to the complex nature of an ERP and I guess
Wordpress does not have these issues. But this complexity is also the
reason why customers are willing to pay much more to implement OpenERP
than Wordpress; OpenERP solves their complex problems, so it's highly
valuable.


4/ Service market

I followed, trained, helped to develop hundreds of partners. We are now
convinced that you will succeed if you understand that the ERP market is
a service market. Focus on getting thousands of EURO from implementing
OpenERP, not on hundreds of EURO from selling modules.

Most of the partners that tried to generate revenues by selling modules
failed. We also tried it a few years ago (shared funding modules) and we
failed too. The revenue stream was not good enough to sustain
development and the maintenance of such modules.

More over, most of these paid modules are deprecated now, so it's a very
bad service for the customer, which makes me think it's not scalable.

Think about it: who are most successfull OpenERP partners you know? You
will notice they are also the ones that understood this model perfectly.



As Olivier said, I am convinced it's better for the OpenERP eco-system
to force having all modules respect the AGPL licence. If we open the
door to "paid modules", this would be the start of a decreasing of the
strong growth we have now.






Fabien
OpenERP Founder


> On Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Christophe Hanon <chanon@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:chanon@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
>     It means for me what it means for many licences authors : software
>     is distributed with the source code. As explained for example in
>      GPL, AGP licences.____
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     Kind regards____
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     Christophe____
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     *From:*Alberto BARRIONUEVO [mailto:abarrio@xxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:abarrio@xxxxxxxxxxx>]
>     *Sent:* 07 February 2013 10:49
>     *To:* Christophe Hanon
>     *Cc:* Arun Venkat; Luc De Meyer; 'Bertrand Hanot'; 'Nabil Majoul';
>     'Serpent Consulting Services'; openerp-community@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:openerp-community@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Partners@xxxxxxxxxxx
>     *Subject:* Re: OpenERP: [Openerp-community] Partners Collaboration
>     Model____
> 
>     __ __
> 
>     Hi Christophe,
> 
>     El 06/02/13 12:17, Christophe Hanon escribió: ____
> 
>      So I think more quality modules will be published the day
>     publishers can get a minimal fee for their code.____
> 
>     This is not incompatible with open-source – see the joomla
>     extensions web site. Free and commercial are equally published but
>     all in open-source.  ____
> 
>     What means "open-source" for you?
> 
>     ____
> 
>     -- ____
> 
>     Alberto Barrionuevo, Director____
> 
>     Grupo OPENTIA____
> 
>     OpenERP Partners____
> 
>     T (+34) 918 38 38 58 <tel:%28%2B34%29%20918%2038%2038%2058>____
> 
>     F (+34) 944 34 00 77 <tel:%28%2B34%29%20944%2034%2000%2077>____
> 
>     __ __
> 
>                OPENTIA____
> 
>     Ingeniería Informática en Abierto____
> 
>             www.opentia.com <http://www.opentia.com>____
> 
> 
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-- 
Fabien Pinckaers
CEO OpenERP
Chaussée de Namur 40
B-1367 Grand-Rosière
Belgium
Phone: +32.81.81.37.00
Fax: +32.81.73.35.01
Web: http://openerp.com