We get a sneak peek at Chris Anderson’s new book Free on wired.com. Free is a fact of life, and if you’re a software developer like I am, you’re competing with free. This is also true for other media and content developers – so instead of whining about how it’s impossible to compete with free or make money off free, the thing to do is start doing it. Dasani is tap water, yet they make money selling it. JBoss and Red Hat both offer free software – and yet they’re very profitable businesses. Wired has a wiki page for content providers describing ways to make money from free content. For service providers, I would add the following ideas:
- Upsell and cross-sell additional products and components
- Sell warranty plans.
- Sell customizations
- Sell professional services, such as installation and support.
