Ask HN: Can an open-source and paid Mac app be a sustainable business?

Re:Ask HN: Can an open-source and paid Mac app be a sustaina... by retrac on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @02:18PM (#43775052)

My subjective impression is that Mac is the platform where a user is most likely to be willing to pay for a polished Cocoa-integrated Mac-friendly supported build of what is otherwise an open source package that they could build themselves. (Building it yourself derails the vast majority of would-be users right there, and they'll just buy it or give up.)

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Re:Ask HN: Can an open-source and paid Mac app be a sustaina... by endore8_ on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @02:21PM (#43775079)

Yeah, that is a good point. My fear is about those few who can fork and make it available for free for everyone.

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Re:Ask HN: Can an open-source and paid Mac app be a sustaina... by retrac on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @02:47PM (#43775385)

You can use trademark to prevent someone from calling it the same name.

Or perhaps open-source the core library while leaving the Mac specific code under proprietary copyright.

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Re:Ask HN: Can an open-source and paid Mac app be a sustaina... by endore8_ on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @02:52PM (#43775434)

Yep, it got me thinking maybe I can open parts of the codebase that have less business value and see how it develops.

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