Bill Blogs in C#

Notice on the end of NDoc

Kevin Downs, the force behind NDoc is dropping work on Open Source Software.  He sent an email to many of the members of the NDoc project. 

It was posted here:

http://weblogs.asp.net/bhouse/archive/2006/07/26/NDoc-2.0-_2D00_-R.I.P.aspx

First, my own confession:  like many others, I used Ndoc and paid diddly.  On the other hand, I fixed a couple of issues, and helped publicize the project in a couple of magazines.

If you read the letter, there are two very interesting points, if you are considering OpenSource as a business model

First, the number of people that actually supported the project was much, much, smaller than the number of people that used the project.  If you are creating a business model built on Open Source, that should be factored into your plans.

Second, the reaction of some of the NDoc community has been, well, immature at best. After announcing that he was dropping support, he was email-bombed to the point where his ISP suspended his account.  Some people seemed to feel that unlimited, never-ending, free upgrades were their right.  I don't know how to factor that into a business plan, but an extremely cranky, immature customer base that will extract revenge if you try and make money is certainly a risk.

Thoughts from others?  Has anyone made an Open Source model work (for a small or micro ISV)?