Why is Gosel Library not Open-Source?

[declan.ruediger]

I don't know many pros of a closed-source model. Would anyone with knowledge about this be willing to enlighten me?

I would love it if Gospel Library was open-source. Surely it'd be so much easier to port and work with. I'm sure there's plenty of people not employed by the Church who'd love to help out.

[BrianEdwards]

I don't know many pros of a closed-source model. Would anyone with knowledge about this be willing to enlighten me?

I would love it if Gospel Library was open-source. Surely it'd be so much easier to port and work with. I'm sure there's plenty of people not employed by the Church who'd love to help out.

This topic has come up in the Forum from time-to-time. My impression is that while years-ago the Church did have some experimentation with open-source efforts, currently the Church has decided that it does not desire any open-source capabilities. And the Church has not given any explanations.

There's speculation whether challenges with the previous efforts soured the Church from future efforts, or if it's more of a philosophical decision. Different Forum members have given different opinions, ranging from actual participants in the original open-source program, to experienced professionals who share their outside conclusions about what they are sure the Church could do if they tried.

All said, I don't believe anyone will have an "authoritative" answer for you. Although you definitely may get a few answers

[declan.ruediger]

Thanks for the info, I'll have to have a look through and find some of those other times this has come up. Perhaps if the Gospel Library for Windows project continues to thrive that could provide a basis for open-sourcing the other platform versions.

[russellhltn]

The impression I got from prior efforts is there are a number of evangelists and beta testers, but few actual programmers. At least not enough to justify the effort to run it