All too often, security software vendors resort to fear-mongering as a sales and marketing method. At wolfSSL, we consciously avoid this tactic. We recognize that our competitors use it. They tell customers to be afraid of open source. They tell customers to be afraid of breaches. Unfortunately, they use the fear mongering approach to their benefit. However tempting, we reject their approach as fundamentally wrong and immoral. We understand why they do it, but it is still unethical.
wolfSSL makes sales. We are an open source project and an open source company. To succeed at both, we need to generate revenue. More revenue means that we will produce more open source. More open source means that we can produce more revenue and subsequently even more open source, and so on.
An old colleague, Marten Mickos, originally characterized this as the “Beautiful Virtuous Cycle of Open Source” that drove the success of MySQL. He was right about the cycle, and we at wolfSSL are intent taking a page out of the database book and multi-master replicating it in the security software market. We believe our dual license strategy, which employs both commercial and GPLv2 licensing, is the best thing for both community and commercial users. This truth we hold to be self evident, when understood properly.
We know that open source licensing can be confusing, and we are happy to explain our licensing model. Please feel free to contact us at licensing (at) wolfssl.com if you have questions. Our only goal is to help you understand our approach, and help you make a rational decision. We are happy to help you avoid fear mongering! Don`t forget that fear is the mind killer!
And now, let us discuss fear-mongering in security. First of all, don`t believe the hype. Turn on your sensors. When the marketing organization of your vendor focuses on breaches rather than on informing you on how to defend against them, you are working with the wrong organization. A good security software company will strive to inform you and not strive to scare you! We suggest that you don`t work with an organization that uses the fear-mongering tactic to drive their sales. Turn on your sensors, don`t let fear be the mind killer, and do the right thing given your situation.
As always, we are here to create community and security. Please feel free to contact us with your thoughts at facts@wolfssl.com.
And, dear reader, this riddle for you, How Many Haiku`s Send a Message?
Team wolfSSL