[aprssig] are write-only APRS-IS clients valid?

[Steve Dimse]

On Dec 2, 2013, at 10:49 AM, John Gorkos <jgorkos at gmail.com> wrote:

> Seriously, look around.  The Europeans have all embraced an open source model, Andrew's done it with YAAC, my libraries and web sites are all published on github, Bob made his DOS code available.  What are you gaining by taking your work to the grave with you?  What are you preventing, other than a the free exchange of ideas in a public service community, and ability of future coders to build on past success instead of continually reinventing the wheel?
> 
Gee, wasn’t one good argument today enough?

It is up to each person to make a decision about his or her own intellectual product. There are some good reasons on both sides, but it ultimately is a personal decision and I don’t think this sort of pressure is fair. 

Besides, open source is not the panacea that is often claimed. aprsd was open source for more than a decade, yet javAPRSvr is vastly superior which is why aprsd has little popularity. xastir has been around almost as long, but its interface and ease of use still does not match the MacAPRS of 1996. findU would have been impossible without open source software, as would google, and amazon, and a thousand other modern day conveniences. Open source is great, for the right problem and with the right leader and team. For other situations closed source is a better answer. That is just the way it is.

Steve K4HG