from Hacker News

Ask HN: Would you rather fund an open-source project or develop it in-house?

by pmestha on 8/7/23, 8:34 PM with 2 comments

• by jqpabc123 on 8/7/23, 9:15 PM

  sponsoring an open-source project so that it is well maintained?

  Invalid assumption.

  There is no guarantee of any kind with open source --- not for maintenance or direction or control or support or schedule or anything. Open source makes demands but offers no real promises in return.

  If this is really a "critical" app and you need better control, I'd say you have no sensible/realistic option but to either built it yourself or at least maintain your own version of it. Lots of people have figured this out the hard way.

• by uberman on 8/7/23, 8:48 PM

  Is the proposed software something that creates a competitive advantage or is foundational/plumbing?

  I'm not going to fund an open source project that would represent an even fleeting competitive advantage. On the other hand, I'm not going to pay to build an in-house CMS. If I had the money would consider spending it to support some open initiative. The rub I see though is that most startups don't have the runway to throw discretionary spending at open source.