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Comment by donatj | Hacker News Reader

I'm at the point in my life where I simply don't trust free software that isn't open source. I've been burned too many times.

Either charge me money so we have a legal bond, or open source it.

Free closed source is untrustworthy software that may just disappear/break with no respite.

If it's open source and you stop maintaining it, I can fix it myself or at least try to. It if isn't, I'm screwed. I won't become dependent on software I can't trust to work years from now - I don't need that in my life.

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Well, if charging you money makes you feels better, I can set something up for you to pay ;)

That that would actually be better in the eyes of some -- it would show that there is at least some incentive for you to maintain it.

I get your point, and I do agree. However it isn't uncommon for free closed software to become opensource if the owner can't or doesn't want to maintain it anymore.

Or atleast, that is how I handle free software that I create. As long as I'm the only maintainer and can maintain it, I'll keep it closed source. However if I can't or don't want to maintain it anymore I'll opensource it.

Not saying this is the case here, but just trying to say free and closed source software isn't always bad. :)

Why do you assume Open Source is really any better?

Have you seen the absurd number of 'Go download the latest version of this dep from some 3rd party remote host' steps in the build processes of modern software (oss or not)? Or my favorite 'Just use this image we pushed to dockerhub as your startingpoint for building our software'.

It's not that it is inherently better, is that a good open source software has fewer chances of becoming an abandonware (and can brought back to life if need be)

Because I can at least try to fix it when it fails. I'm not completely helpless. I can't simply have the rug pulled out from under me.

I've had a fair number apps in recent years, particularly those sold in the App Store that had become vital parts of my workflow entirely stop working after OS upgrades, and the author no where to be found.

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