Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#1

Post by blindprogrammer » Tue, Apr 22, 2025, 11:44 PM UTC

I am currently working on two projects: a PDF alternative for the blind and Google Maps/navigation for the blind in my city. I started from scratch with no AI or third-party reliance. I have written everything by hand (with considerable difficulty since I am blind), so what I am asking is: is it worth it to open source?

Embarrassing coding style aside, I am concerned about parasitic big corporations taking the code and putting it behind a paywall, which is not what I want for obvious reasons. Putting my projects under GPL will obviously hold them back a bit, with the cost that brilliant programmers who would have helped would be the casualty. Another issue I have is that I want zero AI-bros in my code. Not only would I be inviting disorganized, poorly constructed code, I also don't want these kids copy/pasting to add code they have no right to. What should I do?

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#2

Post by vd2287 » Tue, Apr 22, 2025, 11:47 PM UTC

Yes. Put it under a license that requires attribution (like MIT) and open source it. These kinds of software are better if open so that more people can analyze and implement similar technology to make software more accessible.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#3

Post by bigyabai » Tue, Apr 22, 2025, 11:49 PM UTC

If it were me, the accessibility benefits of open source far outweigh the potential cost of letting AI-obsessives use it. You can toss it on a public repo with the license of your choice, update it at your leisure and anyone that disagrees will have to fork it.

I'm not super fond of AI myself and I definitely see how it can result in low-quality contributions pushed upstream. At the same time - if someone can use FOSS to genuinely improve their life, even with AI-generated modifications, I'd hope they do. Maybe that's just me, though.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#4

Post by carlosjobim » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:00 AM UTC

No. Do not open source it. Respect yourself and the work you have accomplished. If you have no interest of making a business from your code, you can give away the finished software for free. Then you can postpone the decision if you want to make it a source of income later in the future.

There are no benefits at all for you by making the code open source. There are no benefits for users either. The only people who benefit are huge corporations and a few open source fanatics who wouldn't even give you a glass of water if you asked for it.

If you want to benefit other people with your code and make a living from it, sell the software for an honest price. That way you attract quality users and are fairly compensated for your work.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#5

Post by sexyman48 » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:04 AM UTC

Pretty sure no one's going to give a ____ either way.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#6

Post by blindprogrammer » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:06 AM UTC

vd2287 wrote: post #2

Yes. Put it under a license that requires attribution (like MIT) and open source it. These kinds of software are better if open so that more people can analyze and implement similar technology to make software more accessible.

That’s exactly what I have in mind too. The only issue is avoiding the “freeloader problem” that most big corporations have embraced lately. For example, with my local navigation system, I don’t want Google scraping all my valuable data to feed into Google Maps—only for them to charge me $10,000 per API call when I try to query the same data they took.

If you’re a nonprofit or a small, local business, then by all means, use my maps—that’s who I built them for. But big corporations? No.

Open Maps is facing this exact problem right now. Every shady AI and LLM is scraping their data and making millions, yet contributing nothing back to the source.

I want to avoid all that by making it very clear: if you're a big corp and you want access to our data, you need to pay up. Otherwise, take a hike.

They’ll probably take the data anyway without permission, just because they can afford $500/hour lawyers—but at least I’ll have made the effort to stand my ground.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#7

Post by mattl » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:07 AM UTC

Put it under the AGPL 3 or later.

Bad actors won’t touch that license typically

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#8

Post by blindprogrammer » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:13 AM UTC

mattl wrote: post #7

Put it under the AGPL 3 or later. Bad actors won’t touch that license typically

That is my plan, but I am afraid I would have the opposite problem, no programmer, the one we want, would bother contributing.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#9

Post by owebmaster » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:15 AM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #4

No. Do not open source it. Respect yourself and the work you have accomplished. If you have no interest of making a business from your code, you can give away the finished software for free. Then you can postpone the decision if you want to make it a source of income later in the future. There are no benefits at all for you by making the code open source. There are no benefits for users either. The only people who be…

You are getting downvoted but I want to reinforce this: open source is a tough free work, it is easy to get oneself burnout for nothing and nobody will care, not even the people benefiting the most from your code.

Re: Ask HN: Should I open source or not?

#10

Post by blindprogrammer » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 12:22 AM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #4

No. Do not open source it. Respect yourself and the work you have accomplished. If you have no interest of making a business from your code, you can give away the finished software for free. Then you can postpone the decision if you want to make it a source of income later in the future. There are no benefits at all for you by making the code open source. There are no benefits for users either. The only people who be…

Yes, as I read HN and Reddit, I’m seeing all the big corporations acting like vultures. The problem is, as these corporations monopolize the market—either by buying out or rendering smaller independent companies and developers obsolete—and as most of the brilliant programmers end up working for the same 3–4 tech giants, I’d be forced to either:

Allow these vultures to steal my code, lock it behind a paywall, and then compete with me using my own work; or Make my code GPLv3 to effectively block them and their subsidiaries from touching it.

In that case, I and other independent developers would retain control and be the ones improving the code—unless, of course, the AI-bros are allowed to steal with impunity, which would make this whole conversation pointless.