Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 22:58:44 +0000 From: Jonathon McKitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: When does it make sense for a company to open-source its code? Message-ID: <20030315225844.GA72313@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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Hi all, I'm hoping I could get some input on a question. We have heard a lot of very good reasons why it makes sense to use open source projects in a commercial setting, and even hiring a developer to customize it for us. In this case the changes are often given back to the parent project, when practical and possible. However, here is a different situation, and I would like your thoughts. The company I work at designs scientific instruments controlled from a host PC. That PC has to run Windows right now. However, I am being asked to look into porting at least some of the software, possibly just the hardware control components, to Linux/Unix. One of our divisions that makes an entirely different type of hardware currently sells workstations with Linux-based software that is binary only. If I were to port any of our software to *nix, I would make sure FreeBSD would be supported, of course. Just by way of an overview, the software is basically composed of components that communicate to the instruments via serial/GPIB/USB/IP, 'engines' that tie the components into sequential steps to make experiments, and a UI to make it all easy to use. What might be some guidelines to follow to decide what should be made open source (BSD license) and what should be binary-only? Could we practically do both? If binary-only is becoming widely unacceptable, what else could be done to protect our intellectual property? NOTE: Please CC me, as I am not currently subscribed. Thanks. jm -- My other computer is your windows box. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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