Cool new open source-based businesses
Some new and interesting businesses built around open source software popped up on my radar screen today:
- Beanstalk is a hosted Subversion (version control system software) system, "making it easy for anyone to setup, browse, track, and manage Subversion repositories." Subversion is open source, but you may not want/need to set up your own server to run it; Beanstalk runs the infrastructure and you use it for whatever projects you need, with whoever you need to work with, when you need it.
- Genuitec is more specialized, but they're doing something similar with their MyEclipse service: annual subscriptions for as little as $30/year to an integrated toolbox for doing enterprise development with Eclipse, an open source community for "building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle." Eclipse is big and free, but not always easy to get started with; MyEclipse is big and cheap, and helps people get started with Eclipse, fast.
- OK, so Chumby isn't exactly news, but it's getting closer to becoming a real product. And it is a cool little gadget, scheduled to be sold for under $200. Per the "story", Chumby "is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web: news, photos, music, celebrity gossip, weather, box scores, blogs — using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what's online that matters to you." It's worth checking out the website for a look at this neat little--Linux-based--device. And if you're thinking about buying me a gift, this would be cool.
I'll keep posting about open source-based businesses with interesting new business models as they pop up--let me know if you hear of any news ones!
