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Whys Freestyler Not Open Source

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FreeStyler is made by Rapheal Wellekens there is no other person developing the software so please be aware that adding new features
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Should Freestyler Become Open Source

Yes
16
70%
No
7
30%
 
Total votes: 23

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Pmarten8
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Whys Freestyler Not Open Source

Post by Pmarten8 »

Firstly i like t say thanks to Rapheal Wellekens for the great work he's already done on making freestyler and keeping it a free piece of software

Ive noticed on the forum that there a few other members that are skilled enough to contribute to make freestyler evolve faster if it was hosted on google code as an open source project then Rapheal could build a team of developers that he can trust to work on the project

Google Code Hosting is Free. Admin Have full control of source and who can view source and work on the project

Just reading this statement that's posted above on the forum
FreeStyler is made by Rapheal Wellekens there is no other person developing the software so please be aware that adding new features
and changing current ones may require alot of work. You may not get an answer to your request as they are ONLY requests you'll have to keep checking the beta page for new features!


Having this an open source project would then allow for faster development of new features with a development structure allowing different developers to work on different features


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Re: Whys Freestyler Not Open Source

Post by matt »

Someone would steal and sell the code.. bad idea.. FreeStyler supports external Input with Plugins! you can work with ralph to develop a Plugin for FreeStyler.
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Re: Whys Freestyler Not Open Source

Post by tarwich »

Open source is not a bad way to support free software as it encourages community support. If part of the software is already proprietary in that perhaps a library or module is used in a closed-source project which is under NDA, then the author can't.

I, personally, wouldn't download an open source project and try to sell it. Competing with a free project is very costly, and the profit margins aren't worth it. A license can help there, too. Ultimately if there were commercial competition, many people would still come here for the free version, which could also take inspiration from the commercial version to better itself.

The reason I ASSUME it's closed source is because it appears to be Visual Basic, which is a little difficult to put in a source control system, and perhaps the author needs help doing so. I'm willing to contribute if that's the case.
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Re: Whys Freestyler Not Open Source

Post by Michael88 »

So many years have passed since this topic was first discussed and I for one am absolutely gutted when I think of what contributions could have been made in that time. I don't want to come of ungrateful for the time and energy spent either way, but it would just not even compare to what Freestyler DMX is today. The idea that "someone would steal the code" is frankly ridiculous, especially in the condition the code is in today. We get 1 release every 4 months, including 10 bugfixes and a feature nobody really gets excited about: this really does not give the impression the codebase is in a healthy, maintainable state.

And even if the code was in good condition, it is still a weak argument: far more important and valuable than code, is your community and its members. And right now, anyone who's a bit serious about programming DMX will likely move on to more reliable alternatives, even if they have to pay out of their own pocket: others are basically stealing your community left and right by providing a better product.

I believe Freestyler DMX and its members truly care about a low-entry DMX experience for everyone, so why not let the community help make it an enjoyable and exciting one.
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Re: Whys Freestyler Not Open Source

Post by remco_k »

"someone would steal the code" is frankly ridiculous
This is actually far from ridiculous. I've seen it happen on a somewhat different but comparable setting. Someone making money over someone else's hard work for a project. This may be a perfectly legit reason to not opensource it. Especially when it is specialized software needing specialized skills, in this case DMX control.

Next to this there are numerous reasons to not opensource the project. And at the same time numerous reasons to do opensource the project. All are different for every project and its developer.

Raphael being the owner of this project can perfectly make his decision about this. I think it needs to be respected regardless the outcome.

Having said that; Nobody is holding back anybody to create a new opensource project and create a completely new software package with the newest techniques and form a group of developers working on it.
Since that also didn't happen since 2011, I'm thinking its not that big of a problem FreeStyler is not opensource.
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