Apple & Microsoft, Open Source is like your Advanced Driving Course!
25th April 2017
My little sister just did her Advanced Driving Course. It’s an extra course to do after passing her driving test, and it gets her a discount on her car insurance.
Passing the course doesn’t guarantee that she is a good driver. But it shows that she takes driving seriously and made the effort to do something extra. And that’s why the insurance company gives her a discount in recognition of her hard work.
Making your software Open Source is like your Advanced Driving Course Apple and Microsoft! It takes a lot of effort to publish software as open source, but it’s really worth it in the long run because it tells everyone you take software development seriously.
- You have made sure the source code is presentable, no really bad code and no naughty words in the comments.
- You have made sure it compiles and documented the build procedure.
- You have checked there’s no back-doors, spy-ware or other embarrassing stuff in there.
- You've added a copyright notice to all your source files. Remember to put your name, open source licence and copyright symbol! ©
- You are proud of your work and you want to show it off to the software community.
For any bits that are so bad that you really can’t publish the code, you can separate them and make just those bits proprietary. That’s what Google does for their semi-Open Source software like Chrome and Android. That’s really good because at least they made the effort (well done Google we’re all so proud of you!).
So Apple and Microsoft, maybe when you get the chance, step your game up and release all your software as Open Source! I know it’s a lot of effort but there’s no hurry so just do it when you feel ready. We’ll all be so proud of you!
