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Comment by jimnotgym | Hacker News Reader

I would like this to strike a note with all of the amateur's who produce closed source software, and give it away free on their websites. When they die the software dies. I wish they would put it on Github. Culturally there is no problem sharing schematics, so why not code?

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To me (and presumably others) those digital modes that are only available via closed source binaries effectively don't exist. I would venture it's one reason why things like AX.25 have such staying power. It would be fun and most constructive to write some compatible open source equivalents but there are only so many hours in the day.

> Culturally there is no problem sharing schematics, so why not code?

HAM operators are for a big part middle aged or older, which could mean for most of them being not fluent with programming, while in theory most of them should have passed an electronics exam. As a result, software knowledge is more rare and could be monetized more easily. Also, the final product of a schematic has to be rebuilt each time in order to be sold, while software can be just copied; that could make a further incentive to keep source code secret.

But... they give it away for free! There is no monetization.

Because they don't have to. And because the first thing that happens when you open source a bunch of code is that you get an extra dayjob in dealing with the fall-out of it for any non-trivial project.

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