Open source vs. closed source

[Krister Viirsaar]

(I'm sure it's been discussed before, I did search for a whole hour, but found no concrete discussion)

Hi,

The Dash Watch pre-proposal thread started to raise some concerns about open vs. closed source software. I'd love to know more about the community stance on this.

The main arguments were that open source breeds collaboration and new ideas, but closed source means you're not feeding the clones with free stuff (paid for by the Dash budget). Closed source may also mean decisions are made outside of the community.

A concrete example is dashcentral.org. It's closed source. It works just fine. As a developer can't add features, but then again it's not really missing much. Yet there is the danger of it steering in a direction that the community doesn't like, then we're left with nothing. So perhaps Dash needs an open source alternative for budgets?

So should all of Dash software be open or only the core itself?

 

[Ftoole]

Well first dashcentral has never been funded by the budget. I saw a budget request and it was voted down. It is ran strictly off donations.
I think core team should always get funding from the budget.
I think marketing should come from the budget.
But most everything else should be start from budget but should be able to stand on its own without budget support. Which if it is a stand on its on op the its the buisness’s Choice to open or close source.