Ask Slashdot: What Would You Pay To See Open Sourced? 483
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?
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?
Photoshop (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Photoshop (Score:5, Informative)
You're doing it wrong. [krita.org]
You eat at expensive places (Score:2)
Now called Affinity, and priced at $50 [serif.com]. I could buy dinner for 7 with that.
Re:Photoshop (Score:5, 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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Would of course be nice, but I'd rather take a Linux port of the entire Creative Cloud as it stands. It would bring a lot of professionals over and give Linux a much higher standing as a workstation OS. If I were to spend money on getting the source code for a blob it would probably be for compatibility, like say the source code for MS Office or DirectX or nVidia's graphics driver. Then again, not very likely they'll sell it for any reasonable amount.
Looks like there's some progress though, you can now play
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I'd rather take a Linux port of the entire Creative Cloud as it stands.
Fuck no. SaaS is unacceptable for desktop applications. People need real programs that don't depend on phoning home.
Re: Photoshop (Score:3)
You clearly have no idea what Creative Cloud is....
It's the entire Adobe collection of "Creative" applocations. Including, but not limited to, Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate, Acrobat (pro), etc.
It is very loosely coupled to a cloud storage service, but you do not have to use it.
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Truthfully, between Picture Window Pro (now free to use [dl-c.com]) and Adobe Lightroom (for those times when nothing but adjustment layers will do) I find little need for a full
Re:Photoshop (Score:5, 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.
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Re:Photoshop (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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3D modelling goes way beyond simply adding another dimension. You've got textures, materials, shaders, lighting, environment maps, bump/normal/parallax maps, UV mapping, specularity and diffuse maps, boning/rigging, etc. etc. It's FAR more complex than working with just simple 2D media.
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You can't really compare the a 2D graphics package and a 3D modelling package. Maybe you could compare 2D vector drawing, like Inkscape.
FreeCAD is pretty good. Still developing fast so there are a lot of features that commercial packages have which it lacks, but for a lot of tasks it's fine. In many ways I find it easier to use than apps like Photoshop and GIMP because it's just a case of logically arranging and specifying everything, rather than trying to be artistic with the mouse.
Re: Photoshop (Score:3)
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In a multi-screen or multi-virtual desktop environment working on several images at once the gimp interface makes perfect sense. If you are stuck on one screen, not so much, hence photoshop being a full screen window with subwindows and acting as it's own window manager because MS Windows wasn't doing the job.
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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.
I like the UI. It makes much, much more sense if you have a focus-follows-mouse (or better sloppy focus) based Window Manager as was popular on UNIX when gimp was in its infancy. Apparently the gimp developers agree with me that this is the way, the truth and the light and they keep making a user interface wh
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And apply the same to Photoshop. Coming at both from the perspective of an absolute novice, I found GIMP's easier to figure out.
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Agreed. I've only ever used GIMP for simple graphical stuff (used to be backend web dev and sometimes tinkered with images instead of asking the 'pros' to do it in PS). Everything I needed to do (resize, cut bits n bobs, move stuff around) all was easy to do. I tried the same in PS and was like "dunno how to do anything". I think PS'ers complain about GIMP because they're not used to it. Same as Windblows users who 'can't use' linux because it's 'too hard'. It's just different.
Not quite correct (Score:3)
Painter here. Yes, that kind of painter.
While a poor painter may blame his brushes, a good painter knows that he's no better than the brushes he uses. A great deal of painters try to imitate Bob Ross with poorer quality paints and brushes (i.e. something other than the Bob Ross branded paints and brushes), and only end up frustrated. I'm one of those - Bob's knife techniques simply don't work with acrylics. He eventually comes around to mentioning this in one of his episodes, but that's years of time
BeOS (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: BeOS (Score:3)
OpenVMS before that.
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It's being ported to x64 by a third party. VMS will outlive us all.
Windows 7 (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.
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Picasa (Score:5, Informative)
Nothing else currently available on Windows comes close.
Re:Picasa (Score:4, Interesting)
Totally agreed. Hey Google, how about it?
Nvidia Drivers (Score:5, Insightful)
Nvidia sucks.
Re:Nvidia Drivers (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, drivers, drivers, drivers, firmware, firmware, firmware. And full chipset documentation for no-longer-commercially developed hardware.
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Source to CUDA would also be nice.
Obviously (Score:2)
The JVM
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Google got sued because they didn't make a compliant Java implementation.... and instead just reused parts of Java in Android.
Re: Obviously (Score:3)
If that were why they got sued they would have lost. They got sued because Oracle saw them making a bunch of money with Java and wanted some.
Am I internetting right?
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The source code to slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The source code to slashdot (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.slashcode.com/ [slashcode.com]
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Soylent news loads so much faster. That site was started after they tried the "beta" layout.
Easy (Score:5, Informative)
macOS
Can we ... (Score:2)
... stream it?
I need to bitch slap some chickens... (Score:3)
Re: I need to bitch slap some chickens... (Score:2)
Cell Phones (Score:3, Interesting)
Top to bottom, we should have a DRM-free open-source cell phone, including hardware and software.
Radio protocols have a shelf life (Score:2)
Unlikely to happen. By the time the patents expire on 20-year-old radio protocols, the spectrum licensees have moved on to protocols several generations newer and sunset service using the old protocol. Case in point: Neither analog cell phone service nor D-AMPS TDMA works anymore on U.S. carriers.
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I would LOVE to see the source code to more parts of my Nokia N900 Linux phone be released. Don't care that the radio firmware is proprietary, what I want to see open sourced would be the various proprietary audio components, the browser UI, the various binary components that handle WiFi (including the various WiFi encryption bits) and any hardware related items that remain closed source (e.g. the cellular services daemon that sits on the linux side and talks to the cellular modem)
So much more could be done
AutoCAD (Score:5, Interesting)
BrlCAD. (Score:3, Insightful)
If it was good enough for the army...
The only bad part about it is that it is a total pain to build on linux. Older versions UI was literally from either the 70s or early 90s, and it has a high learning curve.
Latest versions even include gcode solvers for end to end design, modelling, and gcode output.
That said, AutoCAD or 3D Studio Max would be awesome just for exporting the Star Trek ship models available into another format. It really sucks how all the coolest ships are only in max format so anyone unwil
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Re:AutoCAD (Score:4, Interesting)
FreeCAD [freecadweb.org] works for me. I especially like scripting in Python. AutoCAD uses Lisp for scripting, but it is buggy and not included at all in the "lite" edition for students.
Even if AutoCAD was free, I would prefer FreeCAD.
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Holy shit is FreeCAD slow though. In fairness I don't know how it compares to AutoCAD since I've not used that. The only major project I've done had a lot of parameterisation via the spreadsheet like thing. I was replacing the OpenSCAD model because the injection moulding place wouldn't take high res mesh models, and I needed a surface model so I got it done in FreeCAD in the time it took the SolidWorks distributor to take my life story and etc.
Even slow, it was not very fast.
But it did work, and the produc
The Internet (a codepocalypse) (Score:2)
Sketchup. (Score:2)
One dollar (US) ... (Score:2)
... for Windows Freecell.
Dwarf Fortress (Score:2)
Toady won't live forever. Moreover, what he has produced is very difficult to build on without his participation (specifically tracking combat). As a superior talent in a number of fields, I'm sure there's plenty of lessons to be learned from the code about scaling very large, application development, from a solo developer perspective.
CorelDraw! (Score:4, Insightful)
Should be easy as they ported to Linux several years ago.
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Oh, a Mac version of Corel Draw would be fantastic! I now use Inkscape, which works but lacks a lot of CD's functions.
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You would be far better off spending money to pay people to add the missing things to Inkscape than paying whoever owns it these days to open source Corel Draw.
Games that need a central server (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..
Demcratic elections voting infrastructure (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.
ZTerm, Kermit (Score:2)
I miss the old days.
LastPass or 1Password (Score:2)
If there is any piece of software that needs to be auditable and have options for self-hosting it is password managers. Especially now that 1Password is backing off of their support for hosting your database file somewhere other than their servers.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any open source password managers that pass the WAF, which requires seamless browser integration and syncing on all major platforms.
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Its fine for me (I actually prefer vim & gpg encrypted file), but non-computer geeks (eg every family member I have tried to get to use KeePass) hate having to:
* Stop what they are doing
* Open another program
* Type in an unlock password
* Search for the site they want,
* Copy the password
* Go back to the browser
* Paste the password
It takes more like 10-15 seconds for most people I've watched, and adding new passwords is takes longer.
Furthermore, synchronizing an entire encrypted database as a blob using a
My country's future (Score:2, Interesting)
I would like the future of my country to be decided by the people and in the open. No more back-room dealing and secrecy.
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FoxPro (Score:2)
I'd pick OS/X.. cuz why not (Score:2)
Opera Presto (Score:2)
Total Commander (Score:2)
Total Commander - there isn't a comparable File Manager, although DoubleCMD and MultiCommander at least try.
Clippy! (Score:4, Funny)
Clippy! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Unix (Score:2)
I would release a distro called Gnu is Now Unix
Picassa (Score:2)
Google's Picassa had unmatched facial recognition, and I've got 500Gb of photos to organize... but there was a bug, and it started getting confused... then they discontinued development and support.
I'd also like Google Reader to come back
Just one? (Score:2)
AutoCad
Xilinx ISE and Quartus
Simics
Visual Studio
KiCAD is good enough at the moment so no real needs there.
eASIC's design suite (they want like 15k or something insane for it)
WinAMP
A decent drawing program ala Corel something something... (I have an artistic sister)
I don't need office... I just need people to stop using proprietary formats.
Someone has to say it . . . (Score:2)
Windows 7
Google Assistant (Score:3)
In imagining the future computing world, I've always imagined it would include personal AI assistants. I never imagined that they wouldn't be running directly on my home computer and accessing the net as my proxy.
I believe the most critical open source need today is a strong AI assistant. Missing it is like missing the addition of Linux to open source.
Probably nobody here has heard of it, but.... (Score:2)
Genetica [spiralgraphics.biz]
Unfortunately, the developers seem to have largely abandoned it, and no new work has been done on it in some time. The website it needs to connect to in order to download any needed content seems to be keeping maintained, but the forums, once booming with activity with questions from users and fast responses from the development team have all but dried up completely.
While it was once (and still is) commercial, open source seems to me like the only way that project can get any new life at this
Adobe Flash (Score:5, Funny)
I have no interest in building or running the software... but I imagine reading the code comments would be hilarious and enlightening.
AppleScript (Score:3)
AppleScript. I absolutely need AppleScript.
Apple has paid so little attention to AppleScript, at least in public recently, that I'm concerned that they might stop including it in macOS some day. I sure hope not.
If they do stop including AppleScript in macOS, I hope they'll open source it, so that people who need it can keep on using it.
Authorware (Score:2)
CAD (Score:2)
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For 3D or if you are going anywhere near FEA since you've got to wrap your head around things anyway an ancient interface like brlcad isn't going to add a lot to the learning curve.
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Winamp and Picasa (Score:5, 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.
Speech to text (Score:2)
I'd pay with time, knowledge, and community suppor (Score:2)
Old/dead things I would pay to see as open source (Score:4, Insightful)
1.ZTree. Its a clone of the old XTree file manager for dos except ZTree is a 32-bit Windows app with support for a bunch of windows things (copying to the clipboard, long file names and more). I use it all the time because it has ways to do things that would require a lot more effort to do using other methods and it would be good to see it updated to modern standards (e.g. make it 64 bit, add more features, stuff like that)
2.C&C Renegade from Westwood Studios. I have been reverse engineering C&C Renegade for more than 15 years and I probably know more about the internals of the game than anyone else on the planet at this point but there are still many holes in my knowledge. Having the original source code to Renegade (and the level editor, 3ds max export plugin and other tools) would allow all the mysteries of the engine to be sorted out once and for all.
3.Other C&C games from Westwood Studios and EA. Having the source code to the older games (C&C1, Red Alert 1, Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2 and maybe Generals) would allow the people who have been reverse engineering (or trying to reverse engineer) those games to stop doing that and work with the original code instead. Source code to console ports of the games (e.g. the Nintendo 64 port of the first C&C) would also be great to see.
4.LEGO Mindstorms RCX. I own the original yellow LEGO Mindstorms RCX brick. I would love to see the complete source code for everything that runs on the device as well as the complete source code to the drivers and software so it can be made to work on modern operating systems (Windows 7 in my case).
5.WinAmp. I still use it as my audio player of choice and if whoever owns it doesn't plan to continue development, opening it up and letting someone else take over would be nice.
SoftImage XL (Score:2)
Thanks for buying and killing it, Autodesk. Really. No. Actually, I can't hate you enough.
Silverlight rebuilt with .NET Core (Score:2)
Silverlight with .NET Core and XAML based ui framework would be a great alternative to JS/HTML/CSS for rich browser based apps.
Google Pagerank (Score:4, Interesting)
I think Google Pagerank is what defines what most of us see whenever we search for something on the web. Being such an important gateway between someone and the information. Does it have biases? How much censorship does it do ? How many false positive happen for the spam filtering? and so many other questions.
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You can't avoid it yet, but if it was oss could finally make wine work more reliably...
Wine doesn't work reliably b/c they haven't ever focused on a single version of Windows and gotten that right before moving to a new version. They always try to mimic the latest release. They can change their process and probably get full compatibility sooner by actually focusing on the APIs available in a specific release of Windows. Win7 would probably be a good target right now; Win8/8.1/10 wouldn't be hard to add after that - again, one at a time - since the deltas are smaller once the base is completel
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And WordPress. $deity, that shit is awful.
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Debugging symbols and comments (Score:2)
Machine language proper lacks variable and subroutine names, comments (which document each subroutine's preconditions), and the original data from which compressed level maps were generated. This is what an NES game's asm source code looks like:
Thwaite [github.com]; RHDE [github.com]
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Maya
Be grateful there is a substitute today. I'm one of the old fogies who helped get Blender freed up. At least today there is one substantial 3D tool open.
I'd put several tools and technologies far before Maya. Consumer routers are probably top on my list, particularly from the companies where the only option is the locked-up corporate version.
I love my FTTP gigabit connection's speed, but the only option is AT&T in my region, and since 2015 that has been a mandatory eternal rental. No purchase optio
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If you're not going to continue selling software, the only decent thing is to make it open source.
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Automobile firmware - so we can keep companies such as Tesla honest by not sending home every piece of obscure data they have on the driver back home
i wonder how hard that is to achieve by a hardware hack. Just disconnect the antenna or something. Of course the car's firmware can't be updated anymore then, but is that really a bad thing? The car also can't be remotely hacked anymore, which is a plus.
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There are several z-machine clients out there for multiple platforms that are free or open source. People still make z-machine games, too. Also, Infocom have published a collection of basically every game they made, that might still be buyable somewhere. :)
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Servers are available. Popular forks include MaNGOS [github.com] and TrinityCore [github.com].
The regular graphical client is still closed, but somewhat moddable, and works well with the above servers. There's also a command-line player-assisted vanilla bot [github.com].
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I wrote one of those (in autolisp) some time around 1989. It was not hard for a single tool BUT how the code is interpreted by the device differs, so writing something that will work on everything requires access to everything and setting what device the output is intended for somewhere in the program.
There are some python DXF libraries that you could use as a starting point to write a G-code generator that would work on your stuff over a weekend. That's p
Re: Wikileaks emails (Score:2)
Assange is translucent for a few minutes whenever he sheds his skin.