The software I am developing has been closed source. Recently my friend suggested that I make it open sourced.
This is why I would like to know:
What benefits do I have to making my software open sourced?
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1 Answer
The benefits of open sourcing your project include:
- can reach more people (as it can be freely redistributed)
- more people trusting it (as code can be inspected)
- may attract external contributors (hopefully making the software better)
- good karma ;-)
There may also downsides (depends on how you see it):
- you cannot longer forbid usage in some fields (military, genetics, secret services) or for some people (North Koreans, murderers)
- it may be more difficult to monetize your software
- someone may take your code and produce a changed variant and distributes it
- people may complain about the quality of your source code
