Going open source with a paid program/script?

Currently I have a few paid products which I would like to open source. My main concern is that I might upset a lot of clients who paid for the product previously.

There is nothing that says that I can't do this, no agreement of any kind and there is nothing that says that I can do it either.

I think going open source would allow for further development from others when I don't have time to work on these things on my own. I guess paid clients could receive direct support.

Has anyone else done this? How did you do it and what other potential problems or benefits do you think I should consider?

 

I'm a full-time indie developer myself.
I've never released any of my software as open source.
That being said...

I have reduced the price of my video games drastically and the people that paid the higher price tend to get upset.
IF you do go open source then you could soften the blow to previously paying customers by offering them some level of free support.

I've used many open source development platforms and HANDS DOWN they always improve much faster than any proprietary development platforms I've used.
So your software, in theory, should improve.
Your business model would radically change. You'd basically be relying on people paying you for support/features.

Why not try to open source one or two of your products to see how it goes?

If you do... please keep me updated on how it goes!

 

I think if you communicate with them and explain all of the benefits to them then it should be fine. Just be open and hear out their concerns.

I've paid for proprietary software and would be ecstatic to find out it was going open source. Instead of getting outdated and dying like many other software packages that I've purchased. (RIP Noah Classifieds)