[CentralOH] Python 3.x
Eric Floehr
eric at intellovations.com
Fri Feb 19 15:55:41 CET 2010
Mark,
I would not yet build production software on Python 3.x, even if starting
from scratch. There are a number of important libraries that are not yet
compatible with 3.x, and it may be years before libraries you would like to
use work in 3.x. 3.x is still experimental, for example, Unladen Swallow
(PEP 3146) is likely to be the new VM. Also, very few systems come with 3.x
out of the box yet, so there might be deployment issues.
2.x is going to be around for a while yet (years and years), and while there
will be some conversion pain in the future if you migrate to 3.x, my guess
is you'll have greater pain now working on any large scale projects in 3.x
that have library dependencies.
Putting aside any philosophical, cultural, or religious arguments for or
against open source, practically there are only a few successful open source
models that seem to work commercially. They usually are "platform level",
like Linux, MySQL, Wordpress, etc., or have general use outside the
technical domain, like Asterisk or SugarCRM. In both cases, the model is to
offer services to make deployment and integration easy, and/or offer
proprietary bits on top of the base open source product (i.e. MySQL
Enterprise).
Open source really isn't a great business model unless you have a large
community of interested contributors, or have a large enough potential base
that you can be successful even if only 1% of users actually pay for your
product.
In your case, there may be better models...an open API (think Facebook or
Salesforce.com), a company-developed and maintained users group that then
gets access to the source (i.e. pay-in open source)...MySQL does this with
Enterprise, or spinoff parts of your product that are of more general or
utility use in the hopes that it generates publicity, generates good will,
and if a community develops, improve your product. Google has done this on
a number of things, and Facebook just recently open sourced its web server.
The fact is most open source projects/products languish for lack of
interest...people do need to eat. From a philosophical/cultural standpoint,
if you use open source software to make you more productive or to make
money, I think the best way is to give back monetarily, by contributing to
existing open source projects you use, and by helping others.
Best Regards,
Eric
On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 8:13 AM, Mark Erbaugh <mark at microenh.com> wrote:
> What are people's favorite references for Python 3.x for experienced 2.x
> users?
>
> I'm contemplating converting a proprietary non-Python system that I've
> obtained the rights to to Python. The end result would be distributed as
> source code (not sure if it would open source or proprietary). The intended
> market is VARs who customize the system for their clients, although in many
> cases the current system is used as-is. The current project has been around
> 15 years, and i would hope for a similar run for the converted version.
> Since I would be starting from scratch, code-wise, does it make more sense
> to start with Python 3.x?
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
> *I would like to be able to distribute the system as open source, but it
> even though I was one of the developers of the current system, it will take
> hundreds of hours of my time to convert and I'm looking for something that
> will generate an income stream for me. Does anyone have any experience or
> suggestions on making a living (or a significant part of one) distributing
> an open source package?
> _______________________________________________
> CentralOH mailing list
> CentralOH at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/centraloh
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/centraloh/attachments/20100219/f4142bb2/attachment.htm>
More information about the CentralOH
mailing list