Ask Slashdot: Can SaaS Be Both Open Source and Economically Viable?

An anonymous reader writes: The CTO behind Lucidchart, an online diagramming app, recently cited the open source rbush project as an invaluable tool for helping implement an "in-memory spatial index" that "increased spatial search performance by a factor of over 1,000 for large documents." My question is this: what risks does a SaaS company like Lucidchart face in making most of their own code public, like Google's recent move with Chrome for Android, and what benefits might be gained by doing so? Wouldn't sharing the code just generate more users and interest? Even if competitors did copy it, they'd always be a step behind the latest developments. Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.

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[For a Free Internet]

Capitalism is not viable. Workers revolution is our only hope. Only the dictatorship of the proletariat can open the door to the communist future. Otherwise we are condemned to barbarism by the death agony of capitalism.