Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

news.ycombinator.com

11–20 of 24 posts

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#11
Without knowing more about what you're doing I'm hesitant to give advice.

However what I would say is if you think the work is something that can be applied more or less directly to real world problems, represents a significant improvement on the current state of the art and you have potential investors, well personally I wouldn't open source it.

If that's not the case open sourcing the implementation might make sense. One advantage to you is that it might help you get a good job, if that is your goal.

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#12
Unless you solve a specific problem that is worth a lot of money to businesses, the intrinsic value of your software is probably much smaller than you think. Most of the value in most software businesses comes from development, design, optimisation, sales, marketing and so on. In particular, selling software to large companies is a slow, expensive process that has little if anything to do with the quality of your software. You mention AI and NLP in the comments, which makes me slightly nauseous as regards the actual commercial prospects of your software - such projects tend to be academically impressive but monstrously expensive and near-impossible to market. Obviously I'm purely speculating, but I'd suggest getting your product out of academia as quickly as you can and talk to your potential customers. It's very easy to waste years of your life and a pile of VC money on a brilliant product that nobody wants. If you haven't read Steve Blank's "Four Steps to the Epiphany", stop reading this and go buy a copy now.

Open sourcing a project has many potential benefits. It looks excellent on your CV and is usually the best way of getting hired by someone you'd actually want to work for, as it proves that you can actually program. If your software becomes widely used, there are excellent opportunities for consulting, writing proprietary add-ons, books, speaking engagements and so on.

You say "i don't want some big company coming and taking my source and putting it into their product even if they do credit me". In fact, that's exactly what you want, because overnight you become the world's leading expert on a product by a big company, with everything that entails. GPL it and they can't distribute the software without also distributing the source. They can use the software internally of course, but guess who they're going to want to hire if it becomes mission-critical? That's the basic reason to open source a piece of software - it opens the possibility for other people to develop, market and become reliant upon software you wrote.

If you're willing to bet every penny you have and every minute of your life for the next ten years, then make a business of it as a proprietary product. You've got a great deal to lose, but you could end up richer than Croesus. If you open source it, all sorts of opportunities may open up for you with very little effort on your part.

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#13
Is this an ethical or pragmatic dilemma? If it's the latter, going open source could be a great or not-so-great business decision, depending on your business model. So you should tell us more about your project.

If it's the former, you can find plenty of debates on the ethics of free software online.

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#15
You can make a lot of money on open source (Red Hat, Wordpress.com, etc), but you have to approach it from a whole different perspective and business model.

What is definitely a lot more difficult, even impossible, is the insane level of valuation that closed/proprietary companies have (ie, facebook, twitter, etc). Which means that your valuation will have to more accurately reflect your revenues and profits.

Which may not be a bad thing. It definitely makes it harder starting out, VC's are still very wary of open source, but it keeps you more honest in the long run.

If you're looking to get big fast, and cash out early, go proprietary, and ride the wave. If you want to build a solid company, you can definitely do that with open source.

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#16
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as IP rights go a lot of the project will be what I do after I leave university. But I've already spoken to heads and have worked around that issue. In fact they'd be my first investors, but advised against open source. So IP is workable. As for what the project is it's pretty hush hush right now before I decide anything but to give an idea of size it would include AI and an NLP engine built into it. It's got…

technical support packages sold to enterprise customers.

And customization services.

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#18
Ok it would clearly help to tell what the idea is. So what I am building currently is an engine and a commercial level software on top of it to automate the checking of stylistic consistency in a document. The application of it is pretty broad but to sum it up into a few points

1) Plagiarism detection in education. It can be used as a means to detect plagiarism of individuals outsourcing their documents (thesis) through identification of differences in style (inconsistency).

2) Forensic studies. Letters submitted to court have often been suspected of being doctored by others determined to put a suspect behind bars at any cost. Can help there by identifying inconsistencies in style.

3) Literature studies. Educational tool to help professional creative writers improve their consistency in style

This can be expanded in many other ways, such as history where the software could aid in solving mysteries of disputed authorship of texts. The possibilities grow even more if you think of it merging with other types of bio metric studies.

Right now what I am building the software under is the 1st point and it is titled Multiple Authorship Detection Automation. Hence the interest from the academic field :). Ok. Hit me now.

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#19

It would really help if you described the idea here. If you are considering open sourcing the project itself, then I am sure you can describe what it is without being afraid that someone can run off and copy the idea.

I just posted a description in the comments above. Thanks :)

Re: Ask HN: To go open source or not? I can't make up my mind

#20

Unless you solve a specific problem that is worth a lot of money to businesses, the intrinsic value of your software is probably much smaller than you think. Most of the value in most software businesses comes from development, design, optimisation, sales, marketing and so on. In particular, selling software to large companies is a slow, expensive process that has little if anything to do with the quality of your sof…

That bit.. But dammit I sure as hell appreciated it. You brought me one step closer to getting to open source. I just posted a description of the software I'm going to build in the comments section so if you could give further advice. Thanks again.
Post reply on HN