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How we work¶
Business model¶
Our business model is no secret: we live from selling professional services to our customers:
analysis – we help you to formulate what you need
development – we write the application you need
hosting – we offer different Linux hosting formulas according to your needs
hotline – we answer your questions about the software
maintenance – we help you to optimize your work and apply upgrades when you want them
training – we write end-user documentation and organize trainings
Concretely we have simple service level agreements. We usually recommend an all-in-one contract with a yearly or monthly membership fee.
We usually work remotely, but sometimes organize an on-site worker for short periods.
The Lino framework is our flagship product. It’s our product in the meaning that we are its author. But please don’t say that we « sell » Lino to our customers! That would be offending because Lino is Free Software.
Free Software¶
Unlike owners of proprietary software we don’t use our copyright for preventing anybody from using our software.
Every motivated IT student in the world could install a Lino production site for you, and you would pay the student, and we wouldn’t ask any cent for your right to use Lino.
We don’t sell software and we don’t sell licenses. What we sell are our services.
As the copyright holder of the Lino framework, we care for our software product and continuously improve its quality. We want it to become widely known. We want our software to remain free to use, study, share and modify for everybody forever.
Being Free Software doesn’t mean that one can do anything with Lino. For example above-mentioned IT student may not make you believe you that they wrote the software. We would defend Lino against misuse, defamation and plagiarism.
Synodal¶
Our way of collaborating with our customers is inspired by a method we call Synodal Software Development.
This method works best when
you want to develop a customized database application that satisfies your specific needs
you want to participate in analysis and testing using a lean and agile approach.
you want a solution that is both stable and maintainable
you want to remain the sovereign owner of your investment
you want to continue using our software even when our collaboration ends
you want to share the result of our work with others
Our strategy is to grow in a gentle and organic way. We grow because Lino grows, not because we want to be big.
Our vision, business model and strategies align with the Economy of Francis.