Hi all, I wrote a quite amazing PHP library that is actually an ORM (Object Relational Mapper). Pretty technical stuff, but programmers will know what I am talking about. This library has the potential to save thousands of hours for programmers by removing the hassle of SQL out of programming. The library nothing like anything that has been done until now in the PHP community and took me hundred of hours to write. It is innovative and has a very low level of entry: almost no learning required or special configuration. In other words, this library could literally change the way PHP coders write software. Now that I have showed off my library, let's go back to serious questions. I was wondering which licensing model I should go for. I know that in the Java world there are some proprietary ORM libraries that developers pay to use. However, I don't know any PHP library that is proprietary and I was wondering if the best choice would be to go for an open source licensing model and maybe make money on consulting/training/advertising services. In all honesty, I would be ready to pay big bucks to get my hands on this library (if it existed before I wrote it) as I know it would have saved me an incredible amount of time and headaches. However, it would be REALLY hard to prevent the library from being pirated and it would be hard to market it because programmers like to try things for free before they buy. Therefore, maybe open source would be a better choice. I am ready to give a commission to who ever has experience in the field and comes up with a bright business model ! PS: Please don't argue the pros and cons of object relational mapping in here !
Friend, I don't know much about programming as I have a very limited knowledge. But from what I guess "go for an open source licensing model and maybe make money on consulting/training/advertising services" will be a better solution. You make money on consulting and training. The only drawback is that there are many clever people out there who will hack into the code and then use it without any credits coming to you. Another alternative is to encode it as described at http://www.ioncube.com/ or http://www.sourceguardian.com/. This way other programmers will not be able to hack into your code and you can then decide the licensing model and the pricing. But you will need to setup demos of your program or else it will be a bit difficult to promote your concept.
I've seen a lot of php coder using http://www.nusphere.com/products/protecting_php_files.htm to protect their script.And i also found out that many of the script nuller find it hard to null php script that using nusphere to encrypt their php script