The news is out, DotNetNuke is going corporate. Perpetual Motion Interactive Systems, Inc., started by Shawn Walker, has been managing the DotNetNuke Project. According to a press release on the DotNetNuke website today, the formation of DotNetNuke Corporation in Seattle, Washington will "serve the growing needs of the project and its ever-expanding community".

This is indeed big news! At this time I am not sure whether to be excited or worried. While I understand the past year has been challenging, with such a huge adoption rate of the project among all types and sizes of business entities (we have seen this first hand), and has brought in the extra administrative burden to the core team, I had hoped that there was a plan to offset the growth. With any "open source" project, people immediately think "free" which has been the downfall of many projects IMO. In any business model, 0 times 0 is still 0. And let's face it, people just can't afford to work for free. While I am grateful for the core team and their many volunteer hours, and I for one am unable to devote such hours, I do feel these people should be compensated for their hardwork. I felt DotNetNuke was on the right path with the Benefactor program (we joined within hours of its announcement) and with the announcement of providing 3rd party module reviews and a 3rd party marketplace, I felt it was bound to gather the dough required to float the venture. But the idea of DotNetNuke going corporate has changed the possibilities greatly.

From the article:

“DotNetNuke Corporation is not a typical commercial entity,” Walker added. “Rather, it is dedicated to the public benefit goal at the heart of the DotNetNuke project, which is to create opportunities and spread entrepreneurship to the world by providing a superior Open Source web application framework."

AND...

In addition to spearheading the Open Source project, DotNetNuke Corp. will also focus on developing and delivering services which support the ecosystem, including marketing, sponsorships, and a wide range of partner-related activities. These activities are expected to generate revenue, but the company intends to focus on those opportunities that are consistent with the community values and public goals of the project, Walker said. This includes providing funding for aspects of the project that are difficult or challenging for volunteer teams to solely undertake such as professional marketing, large-scale platform and feature development, product certification and ecommerce initiatives, he added.

With that said, it seems to say, DotNetNuke is going corporate so that they can fund the development of additional activities that need more funding. Now one has to consider the rumors that have been flying about the changes in DNN 4.3 related to membership, and the mysterious source that funded these changes. Also, is there a reason for making the headquarters in Seattle, Washington? To get closer to Microsoft maybe? How will the business model change, or will it? Will DotNetNuke eventually be sold? I think there are still lots of questions in my mind about the reasoning for this move, but we all know the answer...$$$. I am not saying any of the items above are a bad thing. Afterall, anyone who complains about Microsoft being a monoploy is just jealous of a beautiful business model. At the same time, in the words of Google, "Don't be evil", should be taken to heart.

I want to think that this will be the big push DotNetNuke needed to get into the limelight, but only time will tell. In the meantime, we will be keeping busy with the many clients Venexus has accumulated over the last couple of years, all due to a little CMS called DotNetNuke. We can't thank DotNetNuke enough for our own business growth, and hope the new path is one that will continue to benefit the ecosystem and community and allow DotNetNuke Corporation to prosper.