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For me open source is to give the assurance to users that we are not doing shady things and that no matter what the business does they will continue to be able

by Sytten 5y ago

For me open source is to give the assurance to users that we are not doing shady things and that no matter what the business does they will continue to be able to use their software.

candiddevmike 5y ago
What assurance does it give? I could "open source" the cmd files of my go app but keep the core libraries proprietary and the only folks who would call me out on it are the ones who understand what I did, everyone else will just see some folders in git and releases filled with binaries that aren't FOSS and think nothing of it. There are numerous examples of open source software doing shady things like telemetry and calling home too. It also doesn't necessarily guarantee future use of the software unless someone is going to step up and maintain it. Keeping software current/compatible is quite onerous, especially for GUI apps.
krapp 5y ago
... and how do you give users that assurance? By giving them free access to the source code so they can validate it, rewrite it and redistribute it if they want.