Re:Ask HN: Should I make my project open source to get users?
by gwbas1c on Thursday March 19, 2020 @02:58PM
(#22630500)
At least in my research, a common business problem is for a potential customer to ask for a feature, the business sinks a ton of resources to build the feature, and then the customer who asked for the feature is long gone.
So, IMO, I wouldn't go open source just because someone asked for it. There needs to be a much more compelling reason.
That being said: Depending on what your product is, and its architecture, there's nothing wrong with open sourcing part of your product. There's also nothing wrong with open sourcing it at a later date, or providing access to the source code to your customers under some kind of NDA.
Furthermore: What is your value proposition? Why do your customers pay you? Is your product really a product, or is it something you should develop on contract for someone? (And provide the source to the customer?) Is it something you really should open source and sell support?
So, IMO, I wouldn't go open source just because someone asked for it. There needs to be a much more compelling reason.
That being said: Depending on what your product is, and its architecture, there's nothing wrong with open sourcing part of your product. There's also nothing wrong with open sourcing it at a later date, or providing access to the source code to your customers under some kind of NDA.
Furthermore: What is your value proposition? Why do your customers pay you? Is your product really a product, or is it something you should develop on contract for someone? (And provide the source to the customer?) Is it something you really should open source and sell support?