More on Protecting Source Code

[Satheesh Babu]

I love open source and generally prefer to use open source products,
mainly because I can't (or don't want to) keep telling my managers that
I'm waiting for the vendor to help me (usually, this involves several
hoops through some "customer service rep" before I get to talk to a real
engineer), while waiting to fix a problem. With open source, I have the
possibility to fix it myself. Strangely enough, I've seen that this is a
big reason why people don't use open source - because then they can no
longer use the excuse "waiting for the vendor".

Unless majority of the world thinks that having open source is
beneficial, there is a need for closed source software.

If I want to make money on the software that I write, there are
instances where I want to protect my intellectual property. What if:
  - I sell my open source product to a company
  - Some suit comes in and has a friendly relationship with another big
consulting firm and hands them contracts.
  - They take my code and if they find it worthy enough, they probably'll
repackage and sell it as their own. Little guys like me can't dedicate
that much legal resources to fight them.

Good thing is that thins don't happen often. If the software works,
companies are more than happy to pay you *reasonable money*. And they
don't really want to spend time to reengineer the code. Individual users
may be a different story - they might have a better marketing idea than
you do and will probably hijack your code.

For me, .py is enough. I agree with David on validity of his points
though.I've seen guys choosing Java because they can then distribute
.class files instead of source.

World is not ideal yet :-)

-vsb
http://vsbabu.org/