What are the pros and cons of open sourcing your software

Question

What are the pros and cons about going open source with a piece of software?

• is it benificial for the development of my appliation?
• will people likely be inclined to help?
• will people rip me off, steal my code, and use it for themselves? etc

Answer 1

Here's one con: Why is open source software banned in some shops?

Answer 2

Is it beneficial for the development of my application?

Can't tell, based on your post. Maybe yes, maybe no.

Will people likely be inclined to help?

No idea. Based on the communication skills you've presented here, I doubt it.

Will people rip me off, steal my code, and use it for themselves? etc.

Maybe. It's much more likely that they'll completely ignore you, because nobody really wants your code.

Look at the rest of the world: Spring, Hibernate, JBOSS, etc. How many of those open source efforts have been ripped off, stolen, etc.? What material harm has come to them?

By definition, when you open source software you want other people to use it, contribute to it, etc. It seems orthogonal to your fears of being ripped off.

Answer 3

Whether your project gains benefit from being open-sourced depends will depend on many factors, including:

• The usefulness of your project. If other people think that it is going to be useful to them, some of them may be inclined to pitch in.

• The maturity of your project. If your project has code that people can use now, they are more likely to help than if it is only ideas or half-working prototypes.

• Is it fun. If the project is interesting and the atmosphere of the project is good, you are more likely to attract new project members and keep them around for longer.

• Good leadership. A project lead by people with good leadership skills is more likely to succeed than one with an ineffective leaders, poor communicators, bullies, and so on.

• The likeliness of success. A typical open source developer will make a judgment call on whether a project looks likely to succeed, and not waste time on a project that looks (to them) doomed ... for whatever reason.

Finally, if you open source a project you are explicitly sharing it with other people. Addressing your concerns:

• "ripping me off" - It depends what you mean, but there are always people who are prepared to rip you off, whether you open-source or not.

• "stealing my code" - How can someone steal something that you have given away? How can you steal something that you can copy at zero cost?

• "stealing my code" - If you open source and accept contributions it is no longer entirely YOUR code. (Unless you require assignment of copyright as a precondition ... which will drive most potential contributors away!)

• "use it for themselves" - That's the whole point of open sourcing! If you open source your code, you are specifically allowing other people to use it for themselves, and even to make money out of it.