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Ask Slashdot: What Would You Pay To See Open Sourced?

Posted by EditorDavid on from the crowdfunding-code dept.

jbrase writes: It's in the interest of the open-source community to make open-source development as profitable as possible. One potential means of making money from open source is crowdfunding, [but] proprietary vendors aren't likely to be enthusastic about using their flagship product to try out a relatively untested business model. Crowdfunding the open source release of legacy technologies of historical significance could provide a low-risk way for vendors to experiment with making money by crowdfunding: The product has already turned them a profit.

With that, I'd like to ask Slashdot readers, what would you pay to see open sourced?
Slashdot reader jonwil left a comment suggesting old games ("where the game is no longer being developed/worked on and where the engine/tech is no longer being used for anything"). But the sky's the limit here, so leave your own best answers in the comments. What would you pay to see open sourced?

17 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. Photoshop by pestilence669 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... no, Gimp is not an adequate replacement.

    1. Re:Photoshop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You're doing it wrong.

    2. Re:Photoshop by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Funny

      ... no, Gimp is not an adequate replacement.

      GIMP 1.x was social experiment intended to test how far people would go to use an application. They ended quietly ended the experiment after avid GIMP fan was found in another GIMP user's apartment by police after a neighbor reported gruesome screams. The developer had been cutting off the fingers of there users who did not utilize every keyboard shortcut for GIMP. Shortly thereafter the GIMP 2.x series was released with an improved GUI that was just good enough to not drive people insane. The results of the experiment were recorded and they pushed forward on their new larger social experiment: GNOME 3. The intervention of outside parties improving Gnome 3 was unforeseen and ruined the experiment. However, the project was revived by a the Nazi scientist, Lennart Poettering. Project "EWONTFIX" continues to this day a scale greater than ever before. ;)

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    3. Re:Photoshop by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it would be much better if any camera company funds gimp development

      A decent Photoshop replacement should not use Gimp as a starting point. It has the worst UI I have ever seen. It is legendary for being unusable. Someone once joked that they took a book full of bad UI design patterns and used it as a "how to" guide. But there is no way that is true since Gimp has many bad UI "features" that appear no where else.

      Gimp is a classic example of what goes wrong with OSS projects when the developers have no financial incentive to care about their users.

    4. Re:Photoshop by tsa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can't expect a 3D modeling program to be as 'simple' as Photoshop and Gimp and the like. Introducing that extra dimension while still using a 2D screen just opens a big can of worms concerning the interface.

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  2. BeOS by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Insightful

    BeOS

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  3. Windows 7 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    M$ lock-in is the worst thing about Windows 7. It's a great desktop OS in most ways. I paid $300(AUD) for it anyway - it would have been nice to pay $300 for it to be free instead.

  4. Picasa by RoscoeChicken · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nothing else currently available on Windows comes close.

  5. Nvidia Drivers by ARos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nvidia sucks.

    1. Re:Nvidia Drivers by skids · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, drivers, drivers, drivers, firmware, firmware, firmware. And full chipset documentation for no-longer-commercially developed hardware.

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  6. Re:The source code to slashdot by sconeu · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.slashcode.com/

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  7. Easy by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 4, Informative

    macOS

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  8. AutoCAD by digitect · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are no open source CAD softwares capable of producing the drawings used in architecture, engineering, design, and manufacturing. Yet, that same, expensive proprietary package continues on with the same performance hogging, unstable, fluff enhanced software that hasn't really changed in 15 years.

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  9. Games that need a central server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Any game that customers paid for that requires a central server that the parent company shuts down after a couple years, bricking the game. Seriously, this shit should be illegal, but it's growing..

  10. Demcratic elections voting infrastructure by evanh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This seems to me to be an obvious first port of call. The weak points become well documented so also become well protected. Couldn't get a better demo of the security obtained.

  11. Adobe Flash by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have no interest in building or running the software... but I imagine reading the code comments would be hilarious and enlightening.

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  12. Winamp and Picasa by johannesg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    After reading the other article, why not open source winamp? Surely it would be more useful than it is rotting away... Same for Picasa.