Reasons to publish source code (1)

• As a general rule, when the money is not on the code:

  • Hardware vendors: on the drivers case, the software is tied to specific hardware. Publishing the code allows free systems to support it and makes the potential customer base bigger
  • Service providers: can reduce maintenance costs (users and external developers can help on fixing bugs or with improvements), for example if the program has to be ported to different systems not available for the original developers

Notes: