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Open Source Code In a Closed Source Company
An anonymous reader writes "I have code that I've written for my current company that I'd like to open-source. The only problem is that my company has the usual clause that says that anything I write belongs to them. Now that they've decided to abandon my code for another product that replaces its function, I'd like to continue working on my project as well as open it up to the world. The easy part is cleaning it up and posting it on SourceForge and Freshmeat. The hard part is making sure that I am free of any legal complications in the future. I've looked online to try to find a legal document I could present to my employer to get them to sign off on it, but I'm not having any luck. Has anyone else been in this boat or can refer me to some legal documentation that may help out?"
Probably not.
Probably you were asked to assemble something right away and it took years to stabilize. i know it has heppened to some of my projects.
So I've decided to reimplement the stuff on my own following my own advice. Guess what? The new code is better and I'm releasing it as open source and I'm not giving it back to my employer, well sometimes I do, only if they are kind to me.
The way I see it the code is theirs if I write it at the office. The code is mine if I write it at home. So, I just make sure I don't bring the crap from office to home and I unit test everything at home, something I'm not always allowed at the office, so in the end their code is crap and can't be maintained no more, while mine is already in a library, unit tested and all.
The more I write code I realize there is no need to write so much code. Simply implement the functional spec with as little code as you can. The rest is testing.
The theory says I should work 100 hours a week, but I work less than 40. It also says that my company should be capitalizing on my code, but it is only gathering garbage that they will need to dump anyway. The same theory says I should be undercapitalized and loosing my judgment. My capital is my open source code which I may take with me where ever I go. I can do magic in any company if they want me to.
Think of MySQL. You can give away your sources, but knowledge is something you can't give away. Simply put, people don't understand it, so you are protected from theft, while companies filled with MBA guys can't compete with you because they are loaded of code that doesn't do what it is expected to do and can't grow, can't be maintained, they are only gathering costs, not value.
In the end only opne source companies will exist. Closed source companies will agonize for one decade or two, but they will be surpassed by open source companies, because no closed source company can maintain their knowledge locked. Knowledge wants to be free.