From a jail cell to a field

The giant leap from Closed Source to Open Source

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The difference between Open and Closed Source software may seem very small if not tiny, after all it's the same code but that's where the similarities end. In Open Source your code is as free as the Internet there is no end of who can get it, use it, and publish it.

1. Choose a license.

As mentioned above the power the user has when the code is Open Sourced is limited by what license you use. To start the move from Closed to Open Source you must first pick one, a great place to see the many different ones is opensource.org.

from wakanda.org

2. Choose a platform to host it.

The next step is to make the code available to your chosen audience be it privately available or to the whole world. One great place is github, which is Open Source itself has many great tools and features. Another pretty good place is launchpad but would make it available to all in a sense.

from trello.com

3. Use communication.

The most important part and the most powerful of Open Source development is going from a small group of developers to a world full of them, if you chose. But having that many people makes it a bit hard to get work done if you are not in the same room. That is where instant messaging, IRC channels, emails, and web apps like trello come into play. These ways of communication help everyone no matter where they are keep in contact and focused on a single project.