[koonsolo]

> If you make your project open source, your goal should be maximizing people using it, not maximizing how much you profit from it.

Then it has failed miserably at it. For almost each open source project, there is a closed source that has more users. Windows, iPhone, Photoshop, etc.

Making money is a great way to invest in marketing, and reach a broader audience.

Remark that I'm typing this on my Linux desktop, so I'm definitely not opposed to OS.

In my opinion, the biggest benefit is that you have more ownership, because you're able to make modifications and improvements without being blocked by 1 company. I for one, will always avoid closed sourced libraries. I had way too many blocking issues in the past, so I prefer libraries where I can fix things as fast as I want to.

[tolmasky]

I do not believe Windows has more users than Linux, nor does iPhone. Android has more users than iPhone, and Linux has more users than Windows in the server space. Open source browsers are so successful they’ve now officially eliminated closed source browsers on the desktop (arguably on mobile too if we’re just counting engines). So I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that open source is failing miserably at maximizing people using it.