Why are you Still Making Crap? Open Source to the Rescue

w2lessons.com

28 points·mwbiz··5 comments

Be very careful that you do not use copyrighted source code for which you do not have right, which includes open source licenses like the GPL in your proprietary codebase.

When the time comes for your company to be purchased, it's likely that the acquirer will scan your source against known OSS codebases. There are companies whose entire business is to perform these scans for potential acquirers.

If they find a match, it raises red flags and the acquirer could walk away. Buyers get uneasy when it appears they may not actually own what they're buying.

Sure, for apps that you distribute. Most of the technologies listed here are server-side and/or web technologies.

Kinda curious if those companies pay for the rights to use the code that they check against too…

Turnitin? They get the works from students/academics who submit works to turnitin system. By get, if the students/academics want to pass the course/check, some graders/reviewers require use of Turnitin. Compulsory courses tend to be big and graders use it as a tool to reduce grading time. I even saw a lecturer requirement to submit code in via Turnitin.

The system works well but some people do not appreciate their works being devalued and reused forcefully. In my last two years, I've attached a licence to my works that's uploaded. I suppose if I find my works used elsewhere with profit made from access to it, then they're infringing on the licence (CC Non-commercial).

Yeah, too bad didn't tell Google about that one a few years ago.

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