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th_s4m0ht | 3 months ago (raw) | export | reply | flag +1 
 How do you articulate: why open source?

I speak with decision makers (either investors or enterprise) and there is always a suspicious push back for open source: 
-difficult to monetize, 
-must be careful not to share “the secret sauce” of the business, 
-security flaws went undetected for years (android for instance)

Of course I can reply:
- even Tesla open sourced some patents to allow the creation of the market
- security flaws are everywhere, crowdstrike and windows, at least you have more eyes in open source 

But I want to hear how do you articulate it? How do you position open source as superior to closed source?

#opensource #foss
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eb7246eb | 3 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 It isn't about security, it is about transparency. We are providing you auditable proof that we are delivering what you has been asked for. We are allowing our users to drive value into our product because they can highlight and even contribute to what they are using.
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Dr. Hax | 3 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +2 
 Companies are constantly spying on everyone, and then 3 years later they decide to sunset the products we like forcing people to either go without security updates or buy another device.

In contrast, open source projects don't spy on people, and it's transparent so third parties can verify that. People aren't building open source technology to con you into buying more of their stuff. Open source projects will live on as long as there is community interest. Even if a company or even the founder decides they don't want to work on a project anymore, others can pick it up and carry it forward.
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th_s4m0ht | 3 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 This resonates well with consumer related businesses, what about pure b2b tools? E.g. why btcpayserver vs opennode?
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Dr. Hax | 3 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 I can't speak to those two since I haven't personally use them, but there's a large cost to switching platforms because the one you were using was discontinued or they jacked up the prices to unreasonable levels.

Software rarely does everything you want it to. It'll do 80%, maybe 90% if it's good, but there's always missing features and options. With open source code, businesses can have someone add those features, change things, and fix bugs. With closed source software, the best you can do is report it to the vendor and wait.

The common theme here is that you are not in control of things that are vital to running your business. That is a risk. How big of a risk depends on how big of a business you have and how big the software/service provider is. Even if they are responsive now doesn't mean that will always be the case.