Wolfram language is basically as open source as Mongo or Elastic. Which is to say, the source is open and they want the clout of being open source, but it isn't open source.
Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
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Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#12It's really a shame the wolfram language _isn't_ truly open source. It was my first introduction to a computer algebra system in college and I was able to do a lot of powerful stuff with it, all useless now since it's behind a paywall and all the things I would use it for are personal and/or open search-style research where I want other people to be able to use it.
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#13Until he cashes out
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#14Mathematica is really good. If it were Open Source it might have a chance at competing with Jupyter and Python. As it isn't, nobody is going to build businesses around it and the community will be limited.
If they are right, it may make Wolfram more money, but it certainly makes Mathematica less successful.
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#15Soon the book "A New Kind of Open Source" by Stephen Wolfram
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#16I'm having a hard time understanding why such posts. You won't change the open source advocate's minds and all others don't care. I guess they value open discussion, which is good.
Perhaps they do, and that is good. I found the editorial from the American Math Society at https://www.ams.org/notices/200710/tx071001279p.pdf to have been a persuasive contribution to that open discussion. (FYI, one author has spent years building SageMath.)
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#17Isn't it only possible to install as a binary blob, so not open source? Nothing against the engine itself by the way, which is awesome.
Linux has blobs, is it not open source?
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#18Mathematica is really good. If it were Open Source it might have a chance at competing with Jupyter and Python. As it isn't, nobody is going to build businesses around it and the community will be limited. If they are right, it may make Wolfram more money, but it certainly makes Mathematica less successful.
I haven't done a ton with Mathematica, but my understanding is that it allows for more powerful and abstract programming than something like Jupyter. Am I wrong?
I would think that Wolfram isn't trying to compete in the data science space, but more in the more abstract academic space.
Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#19Re: Why the Wolfram Language Is (Like) Open Source
#20Soon the book "A New Kind of Open Source" by Stephen Wolfram
Tangential, but I read A New Kind of Science a few years ago. The topic is very interesting, and the cellular automata stuff seems pretty cool, but the first chapter for it is borderline hilarious. It spends pretty much the entire time telling you how revolutionary the book is, acting like no one has ever been this clever in their entire lives.