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Hey all! I have a query about the general lifetime of an open source software.

People write open source stuff and they put it on net so that people can get the source, compile it and use the software and also modify it according to their needs legally.

But what if some group starts off with an open source os which is put on net but the pace of their development is too slow. Subsequently what happens is that some other group who is interested in coding, uses their os and starts developing it (legally) and distributes it on the net. The pace of the second group is more and hence the os from that group goes popular. Its like linux being distributed by redhat using a gui... In this case linus is doing a lot of work.. So probably the heart of linux is always linus.....

My question is, does this happen and has it happened with any softwares...?

Look up the history of 386BSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD.

I haven't read this link in a while, but I think it is what you are looking for.

Although not everybody likes ESR, I'd still recommend his writings on the topic.

Thanx for the links... I will get back soon..

I expect so. Things like compiz and beryl might come to mind also (not necessarily one faster than another, but differently). With a license like the GPL, note that all the modifications must remain free to people in source code form too. Therefore other peoples developments can be reincorporated into the slower project, if that is wished.

Why do you ask?

There is also the possibility of using specific licenses to prevent that, should you wish. I.e. the source is free to anyone who wants it for noncommercial use, and the product even if its code is used uneditted, can't be used for commercial purposes. That's if you wanted that, of course.

Other than what has been said already, I'm not really familiar with any software that was opensource that went commercial and was successful. There's probably a dozen things I know of that are slipping my mind right now, of course.

Telgin wrote:There is also the possibility of using specific licenses to prevent that, should you wish. I.e. the source is free to anyone who wants it for noncommercial use, and the product even if its code is used uneditted, can't be used for commercial purposes. That's if you wanted that, of course.

Other than what has been said already, I'm not really familiar with any software that was opensource that went commercial and was successful. There's probably a dozen things I know of that are slipping my mind right now, of course.

Limiting commercial users would mean that the license is not an "open source" license (under the Open Source Definition anyway).

An example of a closed fork that was successful is Cedega.

But there are more interesting legal methods than copyright alone, such as Google's Linux modifications (not distributed), Tivo (DRM'd), and my personal favourite, JMRI (patented).

Oh, and I remembered a Red Hat specific example (trademarking) for the OP...

To repeat Brickhead's question, why are you asking? I might be able to give you a clearer (and more specific) example...

See also MenuetOS and KolibriOS