One of the aspects which led to the success and longevity of the DotNetNuke open source project (the previous open source framework which I created) was its platform ecosystem...
A platform ecosystem is a business model which allows multiple entities to create and share in the collective value of a software platform. Rather than depending on a sole provider for critical business functionality, a platform ecosystem leverages many service providers to provide a wide array of complementary and innovative solutions for the platform. In return, solution providers are able to leverage an established sales channel which significantly reduces their customer acquisition cost. And as the number of third party solutions increase, the platform becomes exponentially more valuable to consumers.
A platform ecosystem is made possible by three fundamental capabilities:
1) a modular software platform
2) an extensibility model for creating, packaging, and integrating custom features
3) a marketplace to facilitate transactions between the creators of features and consumers
Since Oqtane's initial 1.0 release in 2020, it has primarily been focused on #1 and #2... however there has always been a goal to provide a commercial marketplace. So it is with great excitement that I am announcing the official launch of the Oqtane Marketplace.
The Oqtane Marketplace is a "next generation" marketplace. Essentially this means that it utilizes an "app store" model - enabling third party modules and themes to be discoverable and consumable directly from within the Oqtane framework itself. This modern approach simplifies the integration process, making the interaction much more fluid and intuitive for consumers (a traditional marketplace website is also available for those who require a more manual workflow).
Software developers are essential to a platform ecosystem as they provide the actual solutions for consumers... so the Oqtane Marketplace provides a variety of essential developer services to streamline the development and distribution of commercial products. These include online services for managing product listings, integration with Stripe for payment processing, a Licensing component which can be easily integrated into Oqtane extensions to control product usage, and a Help Desk for providing confidential support to customers.
The launch of a robust platform ecosystem for Oqtane offers an incredible opportunity for software developers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop and distribute open source and commercial products to a global audience.