Open Source is More than Throwing Code

Open source has achieved a bit of popularity in the tech world, and has even become a bit mainstream. I sadly think this means that many have and will continue to miss the point of what being open source really means. Open source doesn't just mean showing source code.

Many people think that such code drops are the only thing necessary for open source buzz to take over. There are sadly so many examples of tacking on the words "open source" to a product's signage that the landscape is littered with them. In addition to exposing your code (or methods in the case of non-software projects) there are really at least two other principles that need to be present for real open source legitimacy.