> After a very pleasant chat with Robin Miller I've been considering
> opening the source code for my simple content management tool under the
> GPL. You can see it at www.webruss.net
>
> I'd like to ask my fellow developers, about their experiences in opening
> their source code and the results thereof.
All my personal development (projects I started, do most/all the work on,
host and maintain) is done under GPL. I don't have any problems.
However, these are mostly small, simple projects, and I have a limited
userbase, so my feedback is also limited.
> Also, as a developer, would you really send me any updates and changes
> you made?
Yes. Here's the deal - say I'm using your tool, and it's everything I
want except for one feature that I'd really like, and which wouldn't be
too difficult to implement. So, I implement the feature, and now I have
the choice of submitting the change back to you, or not doing so. If I
don't submit the change to you, I either have to keep using my patched
version and never upgrading, or I have to patch the new version every
single time I upgrade, which tends to get progressively more difficult
since code tends to get reorganized. There's also a certain pride factor
in submitting a patch to a piece of OSS, at least in my case - I feel like
I'm giving something back. I don't know if I'm representative, but I've
submitted patches to mplayer, gaim, vcdimager, gyach, curfloo, and
probably some other things as well.
> I guess I'm concerned that someone will steal it and make it into their
> own product and start selling it.
Well, the GPL doesn't restrict someone from doing that, provided they GPL
their product as well, and in that case, why not use your free product
rather than paying for the "stolen" one? Additionally, I've only heard of
someone attempting to do that with one OSS project: mplayer. There have
been a few parties who have packaged mplayer as theirs and attempted to
sell it, but I believe they all attempted to do so under a proprietary
license, and have since been ordered to cease and desist.
HTH,
Levi
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