SourceForge.net

It’s been about three months since our last Marketplace seller interview. Like our previous interviewee, Faisal was a beta participant in our Marketplace, so he’s been with us for the beginning. Thanks, Faisal, for your time!

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your SF.net experience?

Basically I am a web developer leading a group of developers. I become a registered user of SF.net in June, 2007, but I was using SF.net starting in 2004. Basically I came to SF.net for OS solutions for our clients, to increase their websites’ functionality in a cost-effective way. But since I became a registered user I visit more frequently and look at new and old projects’ developments, their scope, usability, etc., and suggest them to clients who may need them badly.

Q: Why did you choose to list your services on the SourceForge.net Marketplace? Did you already have a feeling for the demand?

Over the years personally I’ve been providing outsourcing services for commercial and open source software for new and old projects; like script installation, customization, integration, design, etc. So the demand was already there, as I saw it, but we (provider/buyer) needed a proper channel for OSS services. As SF.net is the biggest OSS provider portal, there is nothing better than SF.net having a marketplace for OSS services.

Q:You were one of our early beta participants, so you were there from the very beginning Still, did you find it easy to list your services? Did you run into any barriers?

Yeah, listing service at SF.net MarketPlace is quite easy, however there some things which may help to improve the way it works:

• Allow updating user information (listing type, platform, etc) after creation of listing.
• Let services be listed on an hourly cost basis, too.

Some people want to buy work on an hourly basis, and they need an option to buy a set number of hours, and if the work is not complete in that time, the number of hours can increase. That way SF,net will make more $$ and it can help OSS Community in a broader way.

Q: What do you expect out of the Marketplace?

I think that in coming months the Marketplace will become the perfect place for software solutions-seekers to get their customized solutions in an inexpensive way.

Q: There has been an increase in the number of commercial open source projects. From your perspective, what kinds of open source projects are best suited to commercialization?

It’s nice to see a commercial factor in OS projects as it motivate the developers to improve the software day by day. I think projects that have broad scope and wide usage are most suited for commercialization, like community-based solutions allowing ad system or solutions that help in solve daily life problems for a lot of people. And some extended-level solutions, too, like providing management systems for high level persons — like CMS (competition is growing between different CMSes; that’s good), Mind Mapping, E-Commerce, Financial solutions and much more to come.

Q: How do you feel about other OSS community members listing services for projects?

That’s great. The more the better, with more listed it’s easier for buyer to choose the one best suited to him or her based on cost, location, communication, etc.

Q: Our strategy has been to build a basic engine to enable commerce, watch how people use it creatively, and build roads where people tread most. Where do you think we should first begin to expand our functionality?

Make links to other open source projects that are not listed at SF or that have discontinued updates at SF.

Q: What role do you think Marketplace can play in the future adoption/growth of open source?

I think there must be some kind of effort to make commercial software buyers aware of Marketplace so they can look into OSS for their needs — which can help them get their required results at reduced cost. The savings can trickle down to their product/service prices for their customers, so it creates a win/win situation for all.

Q: Thanks for your time! Do you have anything to add?

I appreciate SourceForge.net’s efforts to help OSS community growth. THANK YOU, everybody at SF and especially thanks to Daniel from SF Support for his great help whenever I need it for Marketplace activities. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to answer these questions for OSS Community.

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