Essay · ~10 min read

"Open source" is not broken

Kailash Nadh · Kailash Nadh (nadh.in) Free Advanced India

Nadh is the CTO of Zerodha and maintainer of widely used open-source projects like listmonk, so he speaks from years of running real open source, not theory. His essay is a grounded look at the ongoing burden and realities of maintaining open source once companies and strangers depend on it. Read it to understand what you actually sign up for before you open-source, from an Indian builder who has done it at scale.

  • Open source is a sustained maintenance commitment, not a one-time act of publishing code
  • Being copied or freely used by others is part of the deal you accept
  • The reputation and adoption open source builds can compound over years
Open on nadh.in ↗

The question it answers

  1. Should I open-source my MVP or build in public to get early users, or does that just help competitors copy me?

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