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Message: <blockquote data-quote="catsclaw227" data-source="post: 4025635" data-attributes="member: 14197">Well, this is where we disagree. I have been involved in Open Source development and closed development. Comparing the development of a new core system, and the Open Source software development platform is like comparing apples and oranges.  When talking about for-profit businesses (like WOTC, Microsoft, Google, etc) Open source is good for systems that either have ALREADY been released and therefore tools are provided to extend and enhance the systems through APIs or other means.  Google may provide access to great tools to use for free, via APIs, but they would never give out their proprietary search algorithms.  Microsoft (or do you prefer to pronounce it Micro$oft??) opens up their .NET framework for developers to build and enhance tools of their own. For all the bashing they get, they are notoriously helpful to developers.For non-profit businesses, small businesses or dudes in a garage, Open Source is great, they can share ideas, utilize other source code to improve their own product, and get free feedback on systems they are developing.Sourceforge is a great environment for putting together Open Source software, designed with the intention of providing tools for people.  It doesn't cater well to for-profit companies with IP to protect. I have had two projects on sourceforge and two that I wouldn't use it for. The ones appropriate for Sourceforge were to help flesh out ideas and get some free programming advice/help, the others were for making money.WOTC hasn't even released the 4e OGL publicly, so no one knows what it says.  WOTC hasn't even finished v1.0 of their 4e product, so why would they open it up before getting their own bugs out.  Not many companies release ALPHA, and many companies only perform closed beta testing (which WOTC is doing).  Are they all evil empires that have tossed out Open Source on it's ear?  No, they are doing business in the way that they see fit to find profit.  People say how much they love 1e, but it wasn't open source.I suggest that people don't comment on how WOTC is walking away from the open gaming movement until they look at the 4e OGL.  Only then will they have an informed opinion.  Otherwise it is just fire-fanning and rumor-mongering.</blockquote>

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