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fork-dev / TrackerWin

Bug and issue tracker for Fork for Windows
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Open source? #280

Open jerone opened 5 years ago

jerone commented 5 years ago

Any plans to Open Source Fork?

I would love ❤ to help out. From what I understand so far, Fork is made with languages I can contribute to.

Otiel commented 5 years ago

Dan's answer in the Mac issue tracker from 2017:

I don't have plans to open source Fork. I'm 100% sure, if I do, next day somebody will rename the application, slightly change the design, put different logo and start selling it. There are some plans to monetize Fork in the future, but now I can afford to keep it free for some time.

I'd love to help developing Fork as well, but his point of view is understandable, especially if he wants to monetize Fork one day.

DavorLovric commented 5 years ago

Monetization and open source can go together. Here is an example: CodeHub is iOS client for GitHub. The source is here. Application is free for public repositories, but accessing private repositories requires in-app purchase.

Making the project open source can attract contributors who can make the product better while not expecting to be paid for their effort. It is something to think about.

304NotModified commented 5 years ago

if I do, next day somebody will rename the application, slightly change the design, put different logo and start selling it.

With a good license, this is just theft and highly unlikely IMO

jerone commented 5 years ago

And the more popular the tool gets the more unlikely that will happen.

starry-abyss commented 4 years ago

Software like Blender and Godot are both open-source and raise money for development. Also I think there is still no decent gui client for Linux, besides gitk/git gui...

Stanzilla commented 4 years ago

Yup, would love to help out as well!

mikebeaton commented 4 years ago

I think a problem might be that a lot of open source software is designed to be incorporated into other software. So projects with licenses which are too restrictive (e.g. can't be used in commercial software, even with the correct attribution) are much less likely to be used at all.

Fork is in the rarer position of being a develop-time only tool. But (because of the issue above?) there really don't seem to even be any open source software licenses which ban commercial use! After quite an extensive search, the closest I could find was: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-free-for-non-commercial-use-license-to-use-for-an-open-source-project https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

mikebeaton commented 4 years ago

The is now a license designed to make software 'source-available' for non-commercial use: the Commons Clause License.

'Open-source' is apparently not the preferred term here, since this wouldn't meet the full definition of 'open-source' - because, even with attribution, it can't be included everywhere.

There are issues around whether this can achieve it's goal, but it looks as if people are, only recently, trying to achieve this.

Haprog commented 4 years ago

Software like Blender and Godot are both open-source and raise money for development. Also I think there is still no decent gui client for Linux, besides gitk/git gui...

Slightly off topic I guess (sorry), but I just recently switched from macOS to Windows (for about 6 months) and then to Linux (Ubuntu based) and sadly I can't use Fork anymore because it's not available on Linux.

SourceTree is a similar app (which I used to use before Fork) but that's also only available on Windows and macOS.

The best GUI for Git on Linux I've found so far is GitKraken, but it's also commercial (it has a few different pricing tiers including a free one that is limited to public repos etc.). GitKraken is however available on all of Windows, macOS and Linux which makes it attractive if you use many platforms. The design of it takes a bit of getting used to but it looks kind of cool I guess.

Now I'm considering paying for GitKraken (as an individual) or might get my employer to pay for it, but I would much rather buy Fork if only it was available on Linux too. (I think I might be going back to macOS in the future though, depending on what MacBook Pro hardware is like at the time, and will probably reconsider using Fork again then).

DanPristupov commented 4 years ago

@Haprog the difference is that Kraken is a web-page and both versions Fork are native applications. There's a Linux topic in the Mac tracker: https://github.com/ForkIssues/Tracker/issues/153

Haprog commented 4 years ago

@DanPristupov Thanks. I was actually just reading that issue before you linked it (I should have looked in that repo before commenting here). I will continue in there with this topic.

HighPriest commented 3 years ago

Despite being a serious promotor of open-source and backer of a few projects. I believe your work should stay your private creation and not be shared with the public. @DanPristupov If a promising developer for the Linux platform might ask to work with you one day, then we would all happily welcome a Linux port.

Fork is the first product of this level of polish and a great example that non-multiplatform applications developed by a tiny team can achieve such success. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing your names between biggest fames of the open software world.