Here’s a thought that’s been rummaging around in my brain for some time
now: is there a market for commercial, closed-source Django apps?
Suppose someone released a high-quality, well-documented, well-supported
Django app… under a commercial license. Assume of course that this app
does something you actually need, and that the commercial license isn’t
odious. Would you pay for a Django app?
I think I would. I have no qualms about paying for good software: in the
last month I bought some backup software
(Arq), started using a
commercial ticket tracker (Pivotal)
and time tracker (Freckle). In all cases,
free/libre alternatives existed, but the paid versions were easier,
slicker, faster, or in some sense “better.” Enough so that they
justified their prices (to me). I think if Haystack (to pick an
arbitrary example) was commercial (and reasonably priced) I’d pay for it
— the time required to build an alternative would almost certainly cost
me more.