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Ask HN: Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?

#31

Post by 3-cheese-sundae »

galad87 wrote: post #19

I wrote a small app to display a bitrate graph of video files, and posted the code on GitHub with the GPL2 license. A few weeks later someone uploaded it to the Mac App Store and sold it for 7$, the only difference was the name.

That stings, but how many purchases do you think it's getting?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?

#34

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

phkahler wrote: post #29
galad87 wrote: post #19

I wrote a small app to display a bitrate graph of video files, and posted the code on GitHub with the GPL2 license. A few weeks later someone uploaded it to the Mac App Store and sold it for 7$, the only difference was the name.

If they're not complying with your license terms, sue them. If they are then I guess you missed the boat on money.

Taking that all the way to court would be like $10,000, right? Big companies will sue. For individuals it's a barrier to entry

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?

#36

Post by tliltocatl »

sexyman48 wrote: post #2

Steve Ballmer nailed it when he said GPL is a cancer. No professional programmer wants to open source anything, but once one competitor does it, he must follow suit to stay competitive.

The marginal cost of software is zero and therefore the just price in a perfect market is zero. You can compete on delivering features quickly (and that's how all 80-00s software was - they were able to charge simply because no one was offering same features yet), but other than that there is no way software can be a profitable product without being a monopoly - and monopolies is not a thing to be tolerated. You can sell customer support, you can sell services, you cannot really sell software forever. Hate this as much as you want, but that's how things are.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?

#38

Post by crinkly »

About 10 years ago I was on a contract sabbatical from the usual job and the customer at the time open sourced part of the product with the wrong license, a competitor forked it and made a superior product, undercut them and took all of their customers. They had enough capital to buy the competitor but it was an extremely expensive mistake. I'm not sure they ever broke even.

This was one of those niche industry specific things that no one would give a crap about if it was open sourced other than the competitor in the market.

Principal architect was tossed on the street for that one.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?

#40

Post by toss1 »

bitbasher wrote: post #24
greyface- wrote: post #15

I tried to open source a weekend personal project while at $BIGCO via their "Invention Assignment Review Committee". It turned into a minor bureaucratic nightmare and I was ultimately never given the OK to release it, or any clarity over whether my employer was choosing to assert an IP ownership interest in it. In retrospect, I wish I had never notified them of its existence, and released it under a pseudonym instead…

Whenever I join a company I always create a bunch of made up names on my “prior inventions” list. When I open source something I just name it after something I put on my list if the description is close enough.

^^^^ Excellent idea and thinking ahead.

Great suggestion to make in advance placeholders to contain side projects.

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