Hey HN,
Clipboard managers handle sensitive data such as passwords, personal notes, API keys, etc. To trust one you need to be sure that it doesn't send your data to third parties or store it on remote servers.
With closed-source apps, you have to take the developer’s word for it. As a software engineer, I don't like that. Transparency matters.
So, I decided to make my commercial clipboard manager open source. Anyone can inspect the source code, verify that data stays local and never leaves the user's device. Anyone can build the app from source and use it.
At the same time, the app is still commercial, as I need to cover hosting, tooling, and development costs. I know this means anyone can build the app from source and use it for free. Or even rebrand and sell it, but I think the trade-off is worth it.
What do you think about this approach? Would you trust an open-source commercial app more than a closed-source one? Do you think I made a mistake?
Website: https://clipbook.app
Source code: https://github.com/vladimir-ikryanov/ClipBook
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