

Ask YC: open source your code - lhorn

It's not a secret that most if not all YC-funded startups are built on top of mountains of free code written by someone else. Nobody here pays for XML parsing libraries or POP3 implementations. But I am yet to see the code produced by YC-funded companies themselves.<p>Scribd, I want to use iPaper on my own site without using your servers. I think it will be beneficial to my customers. Since you took millions of free code for parsing all these pre-existing document formats, don't you think you owe to the community and should release your convert-to-flash code as well?<p>I know that GPL only covers the case of "distributing" software and running it on your own servers releases you from an obligation to give something back in return.<p>But does it really justify your behavior of being a parasite?
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qhoxie
See below a list of OSS from YC companies.

This is clearly not the only way of giving back to the community. What about
all the contributions they make to the projects they use. I believe scribd has
stretched rails to limits beyond any other site and has made contributions
from it. Adam from heroku just discussed a patch he submitted to rails too.
The list goes on, I'm sure.

Also, you sound like you have used iPaper, a _free service_ provided by
Scribd. Perhaps you should consider an amicable request for an open version of
iPaper (since that is obviously why you made this post) rather than calling YC
companies _parasites_. On a related note, I would be interested to hear what
parts of your company's product you have opened.

I'll build a list:

<http://blog.reddit.com/2008/06/reddit-goes-open-source.html>

<http://portal.insoshi.com/>

<http://ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html>

<http://www.webmin.com/index8.html>

<http://opensource.heroku.com/>

<http://trac.youos.com/>

<http://www.getdropbox.com/install?os=linux>

<http://www.xobni.com/about/opensource>

<http://appjet.com/app/150996096/source>

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lhorn
_On a related note, I would be interested to hear what parts of your company's
product you have opened._

Funny you asked. I happened to work for a startup that got acquired by a
big&evil corporation that specifically prohibited our engineers not only from
opening our code, but even from contributing to existing OSS projects, which,
partially sparkled my original post.

BTW, there is only one item on your list that qualifies as a valid answer to
my question (for obvious reasons) and that is webmin.com, which is by far my
favorite YC startup.

~~~
qhoxie
Look again. I kept adding.

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alecco
(On open/free source licenses.) I came full circle back to GPL. If you see the
glass half-full, the latest AGPL is a great option for a web startup to
distribute their code. It would address the question from investors or plain
MBA-style CEOs "How would you prevent a competitor from taking this code and
making a better service on it?" while at the same time giving grounds for a
community of competitors to factor their development costs. (Including
debugging as development.)

I couldn't think of a scenario where somebody can argue they want to take an
open/free source project, modifying it, and give a service online without
redistributing the code. Well, unless if that person is an [insert your
favourite derisive descriptor for anti-social people.]

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halo
>Since you took millions of free code for parsing all these pre-existing
document formats, don't you think you owe to the community and should release
your convert-to-flash code as well?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't iPaper descended from Macromedia's
Flashpaper? If so, they might not have the rights to open-source it even if
they wanted to.

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jwilliams
_But I am yet to see the code produced by YC-funded companies themselves._

You haven't looked very hard then.

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cperciva
_Nobody here pays for XML parsing libraries..._

No, but some of us write our own. :-)

