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Just to clarify, I am okay with paid software existing. It is even better if you share (parts of) the source code to the community in a permissive license. But

by orlp 5y ago

Just to clarify, I am okay with paid software existing. It is even better if you share (parts of) the source code to the community in a permissive license. But unless your incentives are aligned with community, I would be crystal-clear and not advertise it as open-source. Your incentives aren't aligned with the community. Should a free, open-source alternative to Lunar exist with all its features, your sales would go down. It is in your best interest to: 1. Create the best possible product that works the fastest, smoothest, without bugs, etc. 2. Create a minimal viable free product maximizing the amount of new trial users for Lunar. 3. Maximize the difference between the free and premium product to convert the most users from #2. Open source contributors shares incentive #1 with you. They don't share incentive #2, but there's no conflict here. But incentive #3 directly clashes with those of an open source contributor if only the free product is open source. I want to assume good intentions here, because the malicious interpretation would be that one wants to take advantage of the open source community by getting free work done on incentive #1 while rejecting anything that would cross incentive #3. So what is your goal? You obviously want to make money - we all do. What else? Is your goal to give to the open-source community for similar applications that wouldn't directly compete with you? It's noble, but risky, as you can't enforce that. If your goal is to conduct a 'business transaction' with the open-source community: "access to my source code in exchange for potential contributions under conditions w.r.t. incentive #3", that's fine too. But that is not open-source. If you simply publish the source code explicitly stating that parts of the source code of Lunar is available under a permissive license, that you only merge contributions that fix bugs or add pre-approved features, but otherwise people are free to do with it what they want, I don't have a problem with it. But calling it open-source is misleading in my opinion.

alin23 5y ago
The goal for having the non-paid parts open source, is to share knowledge. I have to reverse engineer a lot of macOS internals and some hardware too to make some features possible. I don’t want to keep that for myself. This XDR thing makes an exception because it required a lot more RE work than I expected I’d like to get some publicity for it before open-sourcing and writing it up. I don’t think I can take advantage of the open source community here. The OSS community has largely chosen MonitorControl since it is fully open source, free and accepts contributions. I couldn’t have started Lunar without the open source ddcctl [0] project, and I want to give back as much as I can without jeopardizing sales and having to go back to a 9-to-5 job. [0] https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl
- orlp 5y ago
  That is all fair. Again, I don't have a problem with you, your project or the code you shared at all. I think it looks fantastic, and I applaud sharing the reverse engineering efforts. I only take issue with the choice of words, in calling Lunar open-source.
  - alin23 5y ago
    I admit I wasn’t aware open-source was such a strict term. I always used it where the source code was available. I’ll fix this wording where I can, thanks for letting me know!
    - teddyh 5y ago
      > I admit I wasn’t aware open-source was such a strict term. I always used it where the source code was available. The term you want is “source-available”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software
    - dessant 5y ago
      It could be specified that only the free version is open source. You may also experiment with open sourcing some paid features too, possibly with some delay after the release if you're concerned about forks eating into your profit. I think the fear of forks is often overblown in this context, especially with consumer facing software. You have a huge advantage in terms of expertise and an established user base, and people will tend to pick your project over a fork, even if you open source everything and publish a paid package from the open source code. Those who are usually willing to pay for software will buy it for the convenience of not having to fiddle with the source code after every update, and to support the development of the project.
    - Terretta 5y ago
      Plenty of us think open source means the source is an open book to be read, not a right to take and republish. There’s a libre or free software mindset that tends to insist “open” source should mean free things as well, but many of us, including supporters of free software, disagree, saying these are two separate concepts. Free Software may require open source, but to keep terminology tidy, open source should not by definition drag in any requirements of free. For example, Free Software Foundation points out beneficiaries of free software have a right but not an obligation to give a copy of the software source. Here the Free Software Foundation agrees that open source and free are not the same, and defines open source more the way you thought it meant: > The FSF also notes that "Open Source" has exactly one specific meaning in common English, namely that "you can look at the source code." > It states that while the term "Free Software" can lead to two different interpretations, at least one of them is consistent with the intended meaning unlike the term "Open Source". The loan adjective "libre" is often used to avoid the ambiguity of the word "free" in English language, and the ambiguity with the older usage of "free software" as public-domain software. All that said, the term open source does come with the preconception of not just study as you mention, but generally some ability to adapt for self and often distribute further, which of course doesn’t work if it doesn’t compile. These are benefits the community expects: - Security - Affordability - Transparency - Perpetuity - Interoperability - Flexibility - Localization Your prior version offers these, the current does not. It’s not even “partial open” or “open core” as the present open parts don’t work as is. Arguably, what you’re talking about, ability to see some source as learning reference, is a more specific term, “source available” or “shared source”. Compare the following three terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-core_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-core_model You may find one of the licenses referenced in the “source available” link helpful unless/until you have time and desire to move to open core.
q-big 5y ago
> Just to clarify, I am okay with paid software existing. "Open source" does not mean "you are not allowed to demand money". For example Fritzing ask the user to pay for the download (see https://fritzing.org/download/ https://fritzing.org/download/). It just means that you don't have a monopoly on distribution or asking for money.

by orlp 5y ago

alin23 5y ago

The goal for having the non-paid parts open source, is to share knowledge. I have to reverse engineer a lot of macOS internals and some hardware too to make some features possible. I don’t want to keep that for myself. This XDR thing makes an exception because it required a lot more RE work than I expected I’d like to get some publicity for it before open-sourcing and writing it up. I don’t think I can take advantage of the open source community here. The OSS community has largely chosen MonitorControl since it is fully open source, free and accepts contributions. I couldn’t have started Lunar without the open source ddcctl [0] project, and I want to give back as much as I can without jeopardizing sales and having to go back to a 9-to-5 job. [0] https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl

orlp 5y ago
That is all fair. Again, I don't have a problem with you, your project or the code you shared at all. I think it looks fantastic, and I applaud sharing the reverse engineering efforts. I only take issue with the choice of words, in calling Lunar open-source.
- alin23 5y ago
  I admit I wasn’t aware open-source was such a strict term. I always used it where the source code was available. I’ll fix this wording where I can, thanks for letting me know!
  - teddyh 5y ago
    > I admit I wasn’t aware open-source was such a strict term. I always used it where the source code was available. The term you want is “source-available”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software
  - dessant 5y ago
    It could be specified that only the free version is open source. You may also experiment with open sourcing some paid features too, possibly with some delay after the release if you're concerned about forks eating into your profit. I think the fear of forks is often overblown in this context, especially with consumer facing software. You have a huge advantage in terms of expertise and an established user base, and people will tend to pick your project over a fork, even if you open source everything and publish a paid package from the open source code. Those who are usually willing to pay for software will buy it for the convenience of not having to fiddle with the source code after every update, and to support the development of the project.
  - Terretta 5y ago
    Plenty of us think open source means the source is an open book to be read, not a right to take and republish. There’s a libre or free software mindset that tends to insist “open” source should mean free things as well, but many of us, including supporters of free software, disagree, saying these are two separate concepts. Free Software may require open source, but to keep terminology tidy, open source should not by definition drag in any requirements of free. For example, Free Software Foundation points out beneficiaries of free software have a right but not an obligation to give a copy of the software source. Here the Free Software Foundation agrees that open source and free are not the same, and defines open source more the way you thought it meant: > The FSF also notes that "Open Source" has exactly one specific meaning in common English, namely that "you can look at the source code." > It states that while the term "Free Software" can lead to two different interpretations, at least one of them is consistent with the intended meaning unlike the term "Open Source". The loan adjective "libre" is often used to avoid the ambiguity of the word "free" in English language, and the ambiguity with the older usage of "free software" as public-domain software. All that said, the term open source does come with the preconception of not just study as you mention, but generally some ability to adapt for self and often distribute further, which of course doesn’t work if it doesn’t compile. These are benefits the community expects: - Security - Affordability - Transparency - Perpetuity - Interoperability - Flexibility - Localization Your prior version offers these, the current does not. It’s not even “partial open” or “open core” as the present open parts don’t work as is. Arguably, what you’re talking about, ability to see some source as learning reference, is a more specific term, “source available” or “shared source”. Compare the following three terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-core_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-core_model You may find one of the licenses referenced in the “source available” link helpful unless/until you have time and desire to move to open core.

q-big 5y ago

> Just to clarify, I am okay with paid software existing. "Open source" does not mean "you are not allowed to demand money". For example Fritzing ask the user to pay for the download (see https://fritzing.org/download/ https://fritzing.org/download/). It just means that you don't have a monopoly on distribution or asking for money.