this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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Free and Open Source Software

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I don't get why big companys are afraid of open source software.

I know that monetizing open source is hard but in exchange they would have 8 billion programmers ready, for free!

Even if they do like redhat , as controversial as it is right now, they would be better off than just closing the source.

I would be willing to pay to have the license to modify my own software even if I couldn't redistribute it afterwards.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not always easy to combine the different requirements for those companies.

Some companies have trackers/advertising in their software. In that case, puting them open source would mean that everyone would see the code and be unhappy about the adverts.

Another issue is pirating. Open sourcing the code could maybe allow easier pirating, either by removing the trackers/adverts or by just not buying the software.

Managers can also not know, or not care about open source.

Another issue is that open sourcing it in a way where someone can modify it, may create issues with some people trying to redistribute the software, even if the licence doesn't allow that, which would create more legal work for those companies.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Understandable