Pros and cons of open sourcing your project

Virtually every company on the planet is involved with open source software. Whether they are using current software, service or API, or building their own tools, working with open source has become an absolute necessity. If a company wants to be agile and automated, open source is the way forward.

But some companies that create a lot of software in-house often face the idea of ​​open-sourcing their projects. For many, this is a no-brainer. Other companies, however, struggle with the idea of ​​making their code available for anyone to see and use. The very idea that someone could implement your code in their own projects, thus benefiting from your developer's hard work, is for many a failure.

But this attitude is a bit shortsighted.

Let's take a look at the reasons why you should open source your projects and some reasons why you shouldn't.

The advantages of open sourcing your project

First, we'll take a look at the pros.

Give what you get

Firstly, there is no way to prevent your company from using open source software. It's inevitable. Truth be told, your company might not be where it is today if it weren't for the many open source projects available.

So why not give back to these projects by releasing their source code? Who knows, you may have made a change to a project that could help improve the way the entire world does business. This level of giving cannot be overstated. Many open source projects benefit greatly from this kind of back and forth. So if your company wants to give back to the community that helped bring your business into the modern era, open sourcing your project is a great place to start.

Worldwide verification

You probably have a team of internal testers who review every piece of software you release to make sure it works correctly. But what if you could recruit a whole world of testers to help find and fix those bugs?

When you open source your projects, you make the source code available for developers across the planet to view and change. You may discover that a C or Java developer on the other side of the globe discovered a serious vulnerability that your Q&A team missed. You can't put a price on it.

Improve your company's reputation

Reputation is important, especially in an age where everything is connected 24/7. When a company does bad things, reactions occur at the speed of 240 characters. On the other hand, when a company does good, word also travels.

If you want to bolster your company's reputation, open sourcing a project can help. While this good news initially travels through development and open source circles, eventually word will spread and give your company a boost. And even if this just bolsters your reputation among technology and IT professionals, these communities are also full of consumers.

Having a say in big projects

Imagine your developers having a voice in projects like Kubernetes, Docker, Apache, Samba or the Linux kernel. Not only would this give you great bragging rights, but it could also give your company an opportunity to learn how these projects evolve. By looking at a project from the inside, you can have a little more influence, which can take your company's projects to the next level.

Additionally, your company is likely already using open source projects. So why not get involved so your company can be more than just an observer?

Faster innovation

Let's face it: your teams can only work hard and fast. By maintaining control over the project's source code, you limit the scope and scale of developers who can help. By open-sourcing your project, you make it possible for more people to view and work with the code. Not only will your project come to fruition faster, but you will also see project innovation grow at exponential rates.

Learn from the best

You may think you've hired the best developers available, but there is always more qualified talent out there. And when your developers start working with them, education happens. This is the kind of training you can't afford or find in any class. If you want your developers to learn from the best, open source your project.

The cons of open sourcing your project

In fact, there are not many disadvantages to open sourcing your projects. However, they exist. Here's a sample.

You are at risk of theft

Not every developer has your best interests in mind. You may open source your project, only to discover that a developer has used that code against you. They could be working for a competitor or a collective of hackers who will use this code for malicious purposes.

This is not the norm, but it can happen.

It's harder to make a profit

Many companies will open source only a portion of their projects to avoid giving away their source of money for free. Some companies are willing to release all source code because they do not depend on it as a source of income. Either way, if you release your project's source code, it will be more challenging to use it to make a profit. It's not impossible, it's just more difficult.

Your code better be up to standards

If you release source code that is not up to standards, is of poor quality, or is incomplete, you may receive backlash. This means you need to trust that your developers have done a great job so that you are giving your best to the company. You don't want to be criticized in public for releasing less than good code.

Copyright issues

One thing you should be very careful about is that you are not opening source code that includes copyrighted snippets. Do this and you could face serious legal problems. This means you must comb through every line of code to ensure everything is open source.

Conclusion

To be honest, the pros far outweigh the cons of open-sourcing your project. It is important, however, that you take the time to ensure that you are not just releasing code free of copyrighted snippets, but that your code is as clean as possible. You also shouldn't expect to reap a mountain of benefits right away. This may take a while. However, it is worth the effort.