
Ask HN: Creating a Hosted Version of an MIT Licensed, Open Source App? - aantix
I&#x27;ve found an open source app on Github that solves a specific development problem that I had really, really well.  It&#x27;s MIT licensed.<p>The author has been working on it for over a year and a half.<p>I would like to start a business with it, creating a hosted version of it.<p>I did reach out to the author and told him my plans.  He told me that he would be bummed if I beat him to the punch and creating the service.  But I haven&#x27;t seen him do anything with it that would show progress on a commercial version.  I don&#x27;t know him at all and would not want to partner with him.<p>Should I feel bad about taking an MIT licensed app that I didn&#x27;t develop and creating a commercial service from the work of someone else?
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tonic-music
No, you should feel smart. This is what the free in free software is all
about. Making it work for others and hosting it is _your_ work. Go
commercialize it and make your money!

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bradknowles
And maybe you will give him the incentive he needs to go create his own
competing service, and then both of you will be better off than you were.

