I’ll start with maybe I just don’t know enough about open source. I do understand that the code is available and people can see it, make suggestions or adjustments, or essentially make their own thing using some or all of the code. I’m all for sharing things as necessary and learning from others when possible. With this though, I personally am on the side of: I trust ljdawson to do what’s best for this app. I am on the sync train because of him the incredible app he made, and how he leads and interacts with the sync community.
I’ve been using Sync for about 7 years and I’ve always thought Ljdawson is very active with the Sync community and (from my experience) has been pretty receptive to feedback on his app. When the material you version of Sync came out, people didn’t like it so he made it so you can choose between the material you look or the old look. There are tons of customization options. I feel very informed with each update as well as what his next plans are. There are paid features that both support him as a dev and the longevity of the app. He puts a lot of time and care into creating the product we get to use and for me that is more important than being able to access the source code.
I understand the worry for sure. My gut says that stems from the current situation at reddit, but I personally don’t think the answer is sync going to open source. If something crazy happens with sync, there are (currently) other options.
Nobody’s scared of Sync because it’s closed-source. People like open source software for dozens of reasons, including auditing, but this really isn’t the main reason people are asking for an open-source Sync app.
For me and many other FOSS advocates, it’s just a nice thing to have as a power-user. See something broken? No problem – fix it and send it. The project gets free labor and the user gets a better experience. Many projects retain absolute control over their UX while still keeping the source open for optimizations & fixes – it’s not an issue of creative control.
There’s exactly one good reason for broadly used software to be closed source: to make money. It’s simply harder to sell an app if people can compile & sideload it for free. FWIW: I think that reason alone is already a perfectly good justification for ljdawson keeping the app closed-source if that’s what he chooses to do.
For me, auditing is and always will be the #1 reason to ask for open source, followed shortly by “I want this to work well on Linux” lol.
This thread has already been helpful with pros of open source and I’d love to learn more about it. I’ve personally benefitted from the open source github projects over the years and I do a lot more now that I own a steam deck lol. I super appreciate your response! I was definitely more thinking of creative control rather than bug fixes and this is helpful with thinking differently.
The project owner in open source projects still ultimately get to decide if and when any changes are accepted and implemented, so they would still retain creative control.
For sure! I think Sync is in a great spot to be the biggest app for lemmy and I just want to see lj reap the rewards he deserves, you know?
Ye. But not able to monetize it mean developing an app will be “whenever one feels like”. If something broken you will need to relies on passionate people to come help you, and since no one has any obligation to fix it, it mean it could take a day, a week, or maybe a month to get it fix.
The upside is if you’re a dev you can fix it yourself, and maybe upgrade it the way you like it. So not being opensource isn’t all bad either
In the end I don’t think ljdawson is the kind of people that will turn evil.
Plenty of open source applications are sold. Being open source doesn’t mean you have to give the compiled application away for free.