How Commercial Open Source works in Qcadoo?

Ecosystem overview:

We are not fanatics ! But we do believe in freedom and we think you should be also free to choose whenever you would like to create an open source module or an closed source one. Both ways have their pros and cons which you can summarize below.

Plugin development model choice:

Open Source	Proprietary
can attract other developers to your module lowers your cost of maintaining the plugins code by accepting bug fixes from the community other developers can add new features and extend the plugin to a new level	you don't have to reveal the internals of your software you can sell it without the risk that some one will fork your project and sell it too
This is perfect in your a manufacturing company and you need this module to get your real job done, For you supporting your business with powerful software is far more important then trying to make that software sell-able . So if there is a chance to lower its development costs and that other developers will extend it then you should definitely go for it. This path is also best if you are a developer hired by that manufacturing company to create a specific module.	This is the way to go if your an IT company and you want to make money directly from selling this module. You wont get the development benefits of open source but if your focused on developing the module as sell-able product with support and maintenance than this path should be more profitable.

Qcadoo software products:

Deployment model choice:

With qcadoo MES you can also choose whenever you would like to use it as a service on the Internet or install it on your own server behind your firewall.

Software as a Service	Local installation
Qcadoo is served to you as a web application from a stable hosting supported and maintained by Qcadoo Limited has a markerplace where you can easily add plugins to your system	allows you to quickly develop and test plugins can sit behind your firewall maintain the software and support its users by your self some closed source modules are not available for download
In most cases we strongly advise this option. Our fees are really low-cost and we work hard to delivering maximum reliability. We believe that things like backups, world wide accessibility, uptime, module validation and scalability should be our responsibilities so that you can focus on your business.	There are however some cases when a local installation is the way to go. This usually applies only to developers as testing modules on their local computers is faster than uploading them to our hosting. In some rare cases companies may also have some specific conditions which eliminate Interent services.

qcadoo Framework:

The qcadoo Framework on which all the modules are build will always be free and open source software !

We don't want to draw any fake lines in out software architecture. Modules can have the options to be open source or close source but the platform has not. It can only be open source as all software developers should benefit equally from the rapid programming constructs we provide. Also the base modules will always be open source.

Furthermore all of the building blocks of the Qcadoo platform are not just tied to manufacturing software. Components that service the data model, build the GUI and handle the plugin architecture are capable to support any web application project which wants to be highly modular. Please feel free to experiment with it. You should get good modular software with a battle-tested architecture in no time.