Improving market adoption of Makumba

A study of techniques for promoting open source software

Christina Nilsson

Abstract

A web development framework is a foundation for web applications containing standard functionality normally used in web applications. This thesis investigates why Makumba, an open source web development framework, designed particularly for providing a short learning curve, has not gained the expected user basis, and how the Makumba community can act to facilitate market adoption of its project. This is done through studies of classic marketing theory along with case studies of a number of successful open source projects and interviews with key persons from these projects.

The results of the study indicate that despite the different natures of proprietary and open source software, the foundation of success is the same – the project needs a clear business model and a value proposition, something that seems to be lacking in Makumba’s case. The differences in marketing work between proprietary and open source software are mostly centered to which marketing channels to use, as a result of the open source projects’ lack of budget. Throughout the study, a number of potential marketing channels for Makumba are suggested.