
Ask HN: Is open source a must for developer tools? - alexzender
I would like to build a business around developer tools and see that most of developer tools are open-source (Apollo GraphQL, Prisma, Spring Framework, etc).<p>However when bootstrapping without venture capital, open-sourcing your work may make it easy to copy you.<p>Is open-sourcing and running as fast as you can the only viable option for developer tools today?
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stratified
Developer tools is a broad term. My subjective opinion:

* If you mean code libraries (e.g. a licensing model)? I don’t think a lot of people would pay for that these days.

* Managed solutions for sure, most developers and small companies are happy to outsource anything that reeks of devops.

* IDEs etc, yup worth every penny.

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alexzender
Yes, I was thinking about libraries that may boost productivity and avoid
writing something from scratch.

Managed solution is a good option, need to find a way to build trust at the
beginning though.

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jimmyvalmer
As soon as one participant decides to give it away for free to increase market
share, then every participant must do the same. So the cost of intellectual
property goes to zero, and everyone now competes in a decidedly less lucrative
market of service contracts.

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alexzender
Interesting perspective, reminds me of a game theory. Thanks!

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pjmlp
Depends on the target audience, there is plenty of business opportunities with
developer tooling when targeting corporations.

From my point of view, and a bit sour experience as well, if you want to
charge money for developer tools that is the market you should focus on.

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alexzender
Understood, thank you. Upmarket is an interesting area to focus on first, even
it's not that scalable.

