Hacker News Reader

> However, it creates an incentive where the general public has an incentive to see the product fail

That's not really the problem. The problem is that it lowers the company value: why should I, potential acquirer, shell out $$$ to get your IP, when I can just sit down and wait for it to come down the river?

View on HN

Most of the value of a company is in the people, structure and brand.

And there's no guarantee the other acquirers will cooperate. "Why should I wait for the company to collapse and open source it's stuff forcing me to compete with other acquirers when I can buy them now and get a monopoly?"

Presumably if the technology is good, there is some competitive advantage in retaining sole control over it, or licensing it out.

This seems to make the company more valuable toward the end of life. If you don't buy out your competitor, your customers will have an Open Source alternative.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com