3 ms·

> People should know that with open source software, they can rely on it not to disappear overnight if a company behind it vanishes. I've seen so many OSS proj

> People should know that with open source software, they can rely on it not to disappear overnight if a company behind it vanishes. I've seen so many OSS projects abandoned because the maintainers couldn't find the time, given they had to work full-time on something else that would allow them to pay the bills.

toastercat 3y ago
I've seen the same, but with closed-source projects, and then there is zero hope of it ever being revived because no one can fork it. :( At least with OSS, you have the power to patch it and recompile yourself.
- kageiit 3y ago
  I feel if the product is valuable enough and solves a real pain point, even if the backing company dies, an alternative will take its place. I have also seen models where the source is made available just before that happens. For eg: https://www.placemark.io/post/placemark-is-winding-down https://www.placemark.io/post/placemark-is-winding-down
jraph 3y ago
Of course. You still need to make your project sustainable in some way. You can sell support. You can sell consulting. You can do it the curl way and make yourself hired for developing your useful thing full time. Not saying it's easy. Building a product and selling it in a way or another is not easy. As a sibling comment say, at least the source is here, if you've come to rely on this unmaintained piece of code at least something is possible. But I was mostly reacting to the association of "Closed Source" and "For sustainable business", like if sustainable business was not possible with open source. It is. Many companies succeed in this.
- pjmlp 3y ago
  Doesn't work for tons of domains, e.g. native desktop software, games, good developer tooling like Enterprise Architect or OutSystems.
  - jraph 3y ago
    > native desktop software But it can. I mentioned Igalia and MediaInfo, and developed on this at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38556450#38557836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38556450#38557836 I don't really know about games and good developer tooling, so I can't speak for these domains. Games are probably particularly tough. But I really think people may pay you for implementing features they need, buy support and for doing custom dev work. That last one takes your time out of your main product though, but if you manage to do custom work on top of your main product, it can still be a good deal.
    - pjmlp 3y ago
      Regular people, that already do pirate software a lot, see open source as free beer, and won't pay for any kind of support, rather have family members as usual. With commercial desktop software at least there is the shadow of the law, thus some companies do survive despite piracy. Hence why digital stores are so beloved by companies selling desktop like applications. I bet there is hardly any company sustaining their business from sales on F-Droid.

toastercat 3y ago

I've seen the same, but with closed-source projects, and then there is zero hope of it ever being revived because no one can fork it. :( At least with OSS, you have the power to patch it and recompile yourself.

kageiit 3y ago
I feel if the product is valuable enough and solves a real pain point, even if the backing company dies, an alternative will take its place. I have also seen models where the source is made available just before that happens. For eg: https://www.placemark.io/post/placemark-is-winding-down https://www.placemark.io/post/placemark-is-winding-down

jraph 3y ago

Of course. You still need to make your project sustainable in some way. You can sell support. You can sell consulting. You can do it the curl way and make yourself hired for developing your useful thing full time. Not saying it's easy. Building a product and selling it in a way or another is not easy. As a sibling comment say, at least the source is here, if you've come to rely on this unmaintained piece of code at least something is possible. But I was mostly reacting to the association of "Closed Source" and "For sustainable business", like if sustainable business was not possible with open source. It is. Many companies succeed in this.

pjmlp 3y ago
Doesn't work for tons of domains, e.g. native desktop software, games, good developer tooling like Enterprise Architect or OutSystems.
- jraph 3y ago
  > native desktop software But it can. I mentioned Igalia and MediaInfo, and developed on this at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38556450#38557836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38556450#38557836 I don't really know about games and good developer tooling, so I can't speak for these domains. Games are probably particularly tough. But I really think people may pay you for implementing features they need, buy support and for doing custom dev work. That last one takes your time out of your main product though, but if you manage to do custom work on top of your main product, it can still be a good deal.
  - pjmlp 3y ago
    Regular people, that already do pirate software a lot, see open source as free beer, and won't pay for any kind of support, rather have family members as usual. With commercial desktop software at least there is the shadow of the law, thus some companies do survive despite piracy. Hence why digital stores are so beloved by companies selling desktop like applications. I bet there is hardly any company sustaining their business from sales on F-Droid.