OK, I realize that there often times needs to be some degree of magic implemented to get funding for a new Open Source project, but voodoo? Well, that is news to me!

Launching an open source project is complicated — not just in terms of creating a new technology, but also in getting developers and future customers to pay attention and support the efforts. To most developers, marketing is a black art, one filled with expensive advertising and PR and lots of frantic people talking about “the brand” and “the competition.” However, it’s fairly easy to follow the path to success just by paying attention to how other projects have done, and how they have gone about building interest and community in their projects.

For example, take a look at two very different companies like MySQL and SugarCRM, and you’ll see the positive side of effective developer marketing and communications: increased brand awareness, increased user base and paying customers. MySQL has the lion’s share of the open source database market and SugarCRM dominates the open source CRM space. Are these the best products for the job? Maybe. Have the people behind the products been effective in capturing mind share? Absolutely. One needs only to look at MySQL’s 65 percent sales growth from 2004 to 2005 to validate the market position. Or consider the enormous success of Firefox, which has reached more that 70 million downloads, primarily through grassroots campaigns like GetFirefox and the recently launched SpreadFirefox. Both testify to the success of open source viral marketing. [Read the rest]