Developing the Segway into the next decennium

[Gihgehls]

A common misconception is that open source means free of cost. It doesn't. There are many open source licenses, some of them granting more rights than others. Some licenses allow for not-for-profit applications while restricting for-profit scenarios.

There once was a company called Epic MegaGames. They made lots of great games. One of them was a shooting game called Unreal. Unreal used technology that was more advanced than anything else at the time. It was dubbed "Unreal Engine." Later, a company called Microprose licensed the Unreal Engine to make an other shooting game called Klingon Honor Guard. By using the already-developed Unreal Engine, Microprose could focus on design and marketing instead of spending precious resources retreading the ground where Unreal's programmers had already been.

Licensing the Unreal Engine at that time cost thousands of dollars. However, after 10 years of licensing UE in addition to making their own games with it, they decided to make it available for a $99 upfront cost and 25% royalties if your revenue is greater than $50,000. This was a boon to indie developers, many of whom are super-talented designers and programmers who previously had no access to such technology. Nearly instantly, the market saw novel applications of the technology: Games that weren't shooting games. Educational projects. Architectural models. Things that Epic MegaGames never anticipated, but were still profiting from.

Last month at GDC, Epic made Unreal Engine completely free of cost. You pay zero dollars and get access to the world's most advanced real-time 3d rendering engine, extremely polished tools for artists and designers, and full access to the source code. Talented programmers from around the world can submit their modifications back into the source, which only makes Unreal Engine better and more attractive to future developers. It is a win for everybody. Of course, there is still the catch that if your company makes more than $X, you owe Epic n% royalties. However, if you don't like those terms, you can call them up and negotiate your own terms.

They went from a small company with amazing tech, to top-tier company with REALLY AMAZING tech. They did it through clever licensing of their technology, although not resting on their laurels had no small part in it either.

Before anyone mentions this, I am aware that Segway doesn't make games and that Epic doesn't make electric transportation. However, they do both develop proprietary software for use in-house, except only one of them is using it to bring home the major bacon. I'm curious what other people with software engineering experience think. If the Unreal product was able to turn into the Unreal Engine, why can't the Segway turn into the Segway Engine, able to be licensed and used by anybody?