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Open Source killing my idea?

I have an idea for a piece of software that would bring a lot of value to a lot of developers. However, while the idea is quite clever, implementing it does not take that much of an effort. So how am I going to protect myself against the open source community? I could probably make a decent profit from the thing. So there is the real possibility that I can spend some of my working time working on this cool thing. But only if the open source community does not hijack it.

It would not cost much, say $29 per licence. That's close to nothing for a developer. To me it would mean I would get to enjoy the fruits of my idea, that is, getting paid for working on it. Nevertheless, I believe it would be copied very quickly. And then I would not stand much of a chance against the combined might of the OS community. Is this fair? How do you people justify it?

Comments

Anonymous said…
How do you people justify it?
We would argue that it is you who need to justify exploiting an idea. You're the one making a claim (that you, and only you, have the right to exploit an idea) and the burden of proof is upon you.
03 October, 2005 09:58
Peter Arrenbrecht said…
Agreed. However, I don't mean to exploit it (taking this word to have its negative connotation). All I ask is that I get paid for the effort of implementing it. But I guess you're right: I should turn up something that people pay for instead of whining. Sorry.
03 October, 2005 20:24
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