Closed‑source vs source‑available vs open‑source — which model makes the most sense for small tools? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 days ago by mietkiewski_dev@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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I’m trying to understand which licensing model makes the most sense for small personal tools — not as products, but as experiments to learn how to distribute software before working on a larger project.

To explore this, I released a tiny utility as source‑available rather than fully open‑source. The code is visible, but the license is restrictive. GitHub here works only as a landing page, not as a full FOSS repo.

Here’s the project I’m using as a test case (not promoting it — just showing the model I’m experimenting with): https://github.com/Mietkiewski/MPomidoro

My goal isn’t to push the tool itself — it’s just a way to understand how people interpret these categories:

Is source‑available meaningfully different from closed‑source?

Do you expect small tools to default to open‑source?

Does hosting something on GitHub imply a FOSS expectation?

For someone planning a larger ecosystem later, which model is the most reasonable starting point?

I’m genuinely trying to understand how open‑source communities see these distinctions before I commit to a long‑term direction.

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[-] Alvaro 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Do you want external input and to contribute to society? Open source

Do you want external input but don't want your code used in other projects? Source available (ie open source with very restricted licensing)

Do you not want any of that and just want to do your own thing? Closed source

A good thing to remember is that open source invites both good and bad criticism, as well as help, so it can help you improve but it can also be hard to handle the less than helpful people.

Also, like real life, the more you hide info, the less trustworthy you are. Open source puts you in a default trustable position for many people, while closed source puts you in a default untrustable position.

[-] mietkiewski_dev@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

For this project I’m mainly testing distribution models. My only restriction is redistribution — people can read and modify the code for personal use. I’m also cautious about someone copying or commercializing it, so this is mostly a learning exercise for me.

[-] wiki_me@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

For this project I’m mainly testing distribution models

What do you expect to learn from those so called tests? (no offence)

The big questions in closed vs open is that there are different scenarios :

for closed source -> less competitor -> more users -> more money -> more investment in the project -> better product.

for open source -> more users want to use it and contribute to it -> better software -> more users -> more potential for making money.

The problem is that for the outcomes you want to track (more money or better software). there are so many variable involved that influence those outcomes so it's hard to deduce that the license is improving the outcomes or making them worst.

[-] mietkiewski_dev@lemmy.ml 1 points 20 hours ago

I’m not trying to prove which license is better — too many variables, like you said. I’m just testing how different models change user behavior: who clicks, who downloads, who ignores. It’s more about distribution patterns than software quality.

[-] wiki_me@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 hours ago

That is also a product of many variables (including software quality). maybe time to go back to the drawing board.

[-] Alvaro 1 points 1 day ago

Once you limit what kind of usage people can do with it (ie no commercial use) you are entering the source available section and not so much open source.

Usually in open source, when the creators are worried about commercial use, they use a license that enforces open sourcing any derived works, which means that any commercial use will only happen without any modification or with contributions to the community. The revenue model in such cases is usually tech support or an upstream closed source version.

For open source licenses you can checkout Open license helper

But what you are describing is either source available or closed source.