Would you support it?
Define what you mean by "Open Source".
Also state what license you are proposing it be relicenced to.
There are people that will happily code for a BSD project, but won't touch a GPL project with a ten foot pole.
There are people that will happily code for a GPL projec, but won't touch a BSD project with a ten foot pole.
There are very few, if any, open-source projects, that are not run by ONE person, that are doing anything well.
The "Benevolent Dictator" in a Bazaar model seems to provide the optimum conditions for creating high quality Free Libre Open Source Software.
The "open source it, and see what happens" model seems to provide the best conditions for constructing dysfunctional software.
FWIW, at least 80% of the Open Source projects out there have less than five people working on the project.
For a good example, look at the mess LINUX is in.
The problem with Linux, is that it expects users to learn how to use their tools. This expectation conflicts with the non-training that computer courses provide.
How many different distros are there? Two hundred? Three hundred?
Linux is available for around thirty different chip architectures, or more than any other operating system in history.
The different distros focus on various niches, with various different, fundamental requirements. A system optimized for video editing is going to be very different from a system optimized for text editing, and both of those will be different from a system optimized for web surfing.
Which is the best one?
The best distro is the one whose kernel is tuned for the specific functions that you use the system for.
One sure way to mess up e-Sword is to open-source it.
I don't think that the GPL license would mess it up, because source code would be available, to fix the inevitable errors.
A BSD license might well mess it up, because source code would not be available, and the inevitable errors won't be fixed.
I like e-sword as it currently is. I don't think making it open source will be an improvement at all.
There are half a dozen features that could be added to e-Sword, that would be improvements. Features that, for various reasons, Rick is unlikely to implement. (Very few users would utilize these features, hence it wouldn't be "cost-effective" to implement.)
I wouldn't mind seeing versions eventually made for Mac and Linux. There might be enough of a user base to justify it.
At this stage of the game, iOS and Android make more sense than Mac and Linux. However, porting from Windows to other platforms is an extremely laborious process. In most cases, it is simpler, and faster, to rewrite from scratch for Linux, and port that to the other operating systems --- including Windows.
###
All that said, my preference is for GPL 3.0 licensed software, because that is one of the few licenses that does not conflict with Christian ethics and morals. However, it is also one of the more awkward licenses to monitize.
jonathon
Edited by jonathon, 22 February 2012 - 07:13 AM.