Open Source Dialog with Mr. House, Bruce Winter

Cocoon Tech on January 25, 2006

In this Q&A with Bruce Winter, the creator of an open source home automation program written in Perl, a new open source developer picks the veteran's brain as to open source project financing and the revenue potential for new projects. Winter says that his "day job" pays well enough that his MisterHouse project can remain a hobby, and that sites like SourceForge.net allow him to eliminate overhead costs without calling for donations or generating revenue. Winter advises that those looking to capitalize on open source projects, particularly in home automation, will probably find opportunities in tailoring the technology to specific homes. He notes that this approach has been successful for projects in other spaces as well, including entertainment and security. Would he have chosen a model other than open source given the opportunity? No, Winter says with no regrets.