Earning Money with Open Source Software?

An anonymous reader writes "I've been working on a financial application which I've decided to release to the public. I want to make some money from the application, though I certainly don't expect to become a millionaire. The problem is that I'd like nothing better than to open-source it. There are many aspects of the application that I don't have time to refine, and other developers could definitely improve upon my work. However, I don't know how I earn money from something once I've made it open source. How have you dealt with trying to turn a reasonable profit on your work while remaining open-sourced?"

Merchandising

[sakdoctor]

Sell T-shirts and mugs.

Oh wait, that's musicians.

Easy!

[UbuntuDupe]

Easy! Just follow the ESR method:

1) Wish *really hard* that some way exists.

2) Compare proprietary software to the Holocaust.

3) Insist that it's feasible to subsist on money from writing software if you don't have a mortgage or kids and camp/forage at MIT.

Re:Learn from movies who have succeeded

[eldavojohn]

I've been working on a financial application ...

Yes, or he could learn from movies like Office Space and Superman 3 and edit the software so that it moves the fractions of cents lost in transactions to an unnamed bank account.

Also, drop the 'But they'll send me to Federal pound me in the ass prison' attitude.

Let's Make Lots of Money

[STrinity]

There are many aspects of the application that I don't have time to refine, and other developers could definitely improve upon my work.

So you've developed crappy software, you don't want to put the effort into making it good, but you still think people will pay you money?

You are Bill Gates, and I claim my five dollars.

Re:Merchandising

[airos4]

"Spaceballs - The Flamethrower! The kids love this one."

Re:Ensure there is a demand for your software!

[youngerpants]

make sure you have a backup source of income. Either a job or something else

selling crack?

Re:Are you new here?

[Anonymous Coward]

If there is no goal at the end of the train, then yes, your whole pyramid is built of meaningless crap.

And then the whole stack of dominoes will collapse like a house of cards. Checkmate!

Re:Are you new here?

[Hognoxious]

And it didn't even involve a car.