Traditional Income

For some of you the more traditional ways of funding your open source project may be worth exploring. We will not spend much time on them mostly because these topics are covered elsewhere on the net, and I think they are only applicable for some developers.

Selling Custom One Off Applications

I've heard a lot about developers making related software for private ventures. Some have claimed to make a living with this approach. From personal experience with DSL, I would say that most propositions tend to fizzle out. If you are approached, be sure to get payment up front, and do not sell your labor short.

Selling Consulting

Many Open Source software projects are funded by consulting. This seems to be a great model particularly for server side or web based applications such as database management or forum software. Many companies will willingly shell out money to have an expert on hand to answer questions.