the value of software does not reside in the source code

[DCT Jared Smith]

<snip>

>>Contrary to popular opinion, the value of software does not reside in the
>>source code, mostly.  Most software-producing companies act as if this is so,
>>and act as if they would suffer a horrible loss if their source code got out,
>>but this shows a lack of understanding on their part (and possibly ulterior
>>motives).

>I disagree with you, here...then I'm not totally sold on the open source 
>movement.  I work for a small company with a niche market.  If our code 
>was open source, it'd be damned easy for others to encroach on our turf. 
 >I don't think you can assume honesty on the part of other companies. 
 >Look at M$.  If they have the opportunity, they'll steal code and 
>attrit the little guy with litigation.

Well, this is valid if you're committed to the adversarial way of doing
things. You must see all others as potential competitors, and protect
yourself from folks like Microsoft.

This also means that you can make more money than you're worth.

Some people are into that.

The merit-based structure of open source demands you work your 
rear end off--and rewards you fully for the effort, by friends who won't 
eviscerate you at the earliest opportunity.

Chances are, your source code is not as valuable as you make it out
to be; what is valuable is that part which is not easily written: your tenacity,
your passion, your marketing plan, your relationships with your clients...

<rant>Think about the fact that you're competing against Microsoft if
you hide your source. Open Source it, and they'll look at you like you're
some kind of oppossum. Meanwhile, over here in the Open Source
world, there are valid alternatives to the adversarial model. Open Source has 
its nasty fights, like between MySQL dot com and MySQL dot org, yet
overall people respect the work you've put into the code and prefer
to work WITH you than against you. People realize that you've got
to make a living. It's the people who are interested in helping you do
so (ie because they live in a remote part of the world you're probably never
going to market into), and yet they can help you build your software because
they need something similar, it's these folks who make Open Source work.

You gotta realize you're coming at the whole idea of Open Source with
eyes trained for competition, which means you're going to think folks
who genuinely want to help you out, , , are out to get you. Your choice.

The amazing thing is how many people out there are interested in
helping you, for no other reason than to simply show off their skills.
My direct experience with Open Source is still small, such that I'm
excited by one guy from Europe who found a broken link on my page, 
knew about an Apache setting that made the fix, corrected my accidenally-
revealed source code in the course of a simple e-mail, taught me a few 
concepts which I didn't know in PHP, made me really look 
at the way I was working, and the code was something so simple it 
could never have earned money anywhere. He just did it because he was 
wanting to help out another coder. It's pretty amazing when that
kind of thing comes your way, and it makes you want to do the
same, if you've got a heart...</rant>

-Jared