Merits of open source

[iago]

Rather than pushing a thread off topic in Cuphead's forum, I thought I would just post this here instead

Basically, how do you feel about open source programming?

On one hand, like tmp has said (not here), if you ever have a problem or bug, chances are somebody will notice it and help you fix it.  Applications grow faster, and are more security, and will work better overall.  Look at Linux apps vs. Windows apps.  Look at OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Office.  Look at Gaim vs. Trillian.  

On the other hand, Bill Gates isn't worth Billions today because he gave away his code.  

So, what do you think?

[hismajesty]

Make your project open source, but make sure you have strong Mafia connections. Thus, giving you the best of both worlds.  

[iago]

Or make it closed source and have an army of geeks on call, instead of having to post it online for all the world to see.

*points at vL*

[Adron]

Open source is good for any project you want to see prosper. If you want to prosper yourself, you want closed source.

[CupHead]

* CupHead notes that there are plenty of awesome closed-source programs.

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

* St0rm.iD looks at OpenOffice's RAM usage, speed, and features vs. Microsoft Office.

Almost identical features, huge ram consumption, and slow. If you disable the paperclip, MS office is a _good_ product, you can't deny that.

Then again, look at Apache vs IIS

[Kp]

* CupHead notes that there are plenty of awesome closed-source programs.

There are also plenty of sucky closed-source programs.  The same can probably be said about open-source software too.  Whether something is open or closed affects, but does not control, whether the product sucks or not.  IMO, it depends in large part on whether the programmers who work on it are skilled with their language.  An open-source app can end up badly if it doesn't attract interest from good programmers; similarly, a closed source app can be lousy if the developers hired to work on it are bad.

[Thing]

St0rm you forgot the two most important comparisons between OpenOffice and Microsoft Office, price and security.  I don't think I need to elaborate on those.

[iago]

Also portability; Linux doesn't much appreciate it if you try to install MS Office on it.  I'm surprised you'd support a microsoft product!

[Skywing]

Also portability; Linux doesn't much appreciate it if you try to install MS Office on it.  I'm surprised you'd support a microsoft product!

Perhaps you've never heard of WINE?

[iago]

It seems silly to use WIN + MS Office when you can just use OpenOffice.  I could either pay for 2 programs or not pay for a single program.

[wut]

A lot of these emphatic open source zealots drive me nuts -- the GPL cannot magically be applied to everything to make it better.

[j0k3r]

It seems silly to use WIN + MS Office when you can just use OpenOffice.  I could either pay for 2 programs or not pay for a single program.

Good point.