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10+ List of Formerly Closed-source Software

junauza.com — Here are some of the most notable software packages which were published under a proprietary software license but later released as free and open source software.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 19, 2008

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  • onefix, on 10/19/2008, -1/+39What about OpenOffice.org? VirtualBox?
  • JonForTheWin, on 10/19/2008, -2/+26If Firefox were open source, how would Mozilla make any money?! Also, Firefox supports https, with encryption, if it were open source, terrorists could use it to hide secrets they have from us.
  • WhiteHamster, on 10/19/2008, -4/+27What?
  • inactive, on 10/19/2008, -7/+26Open sourcing Firefox would increase piracy and put a dent in Firefox sales.
  • TheZorch, on 10/19/2008, -0/+17The game engines for Duke Nukem 3D, Doom, and Quake III were mentioned but there was no mention of Freespace 2. The engine for one of the great space combat sims of all time wasn't mentioned. It was released as open source several years ago and the project has taken a life of its own as the Freespace 2 SCP (Source Code Project). Its been updated with modern OpenGL graphics technologies improving the visuals of the game but the engine has been used for other game projects like Beyond The Red Line which is a Battlestar Galactic combat sim, a fan produced Wing Commander game, a fan produced Babylon 5 space combat sim with realistic Star Fury flight controls, and more.
  • nebkiwi, on 10/19/2008, -2/+17I liked the bit when I clicked the link and read the webpage.
  • aidave, on 10/19/2008, -1/+14Second Life is not open source. Only the client is. The server (the important part) remains closed.
  • Darkhacker, on 10/19/2008, -1/+13*Woosh*
    You hear that sound?

    That's the sound of Mozilla losing profits if Firefox ever went open source.
  • Khast, on 10/19/2008, -1/+10When God releases the genome for humans as open source...your post will be relevant. But since I don't think he exists, we will have to write our own source code.
  • samuelcotterall, on 10/19/2008, -0/+9It's not that they were formerly closed source - it is that they are now open source.

    Unlike most open source projects, these have had huge amounts of money invested in them and are often more polished than those started by a small community of developers.

    Open sourcing a game engine, for example, gives new life to an existing game and allows developers to build something without spending hours working on the underlying mechanics.
  • 4321234, on 10/19/2008, -1/+9If Firefox was open source, anyone could look at your code and see what pr0n sites you'd surfed.
  • WaywardSon, on 10/19/2008, -4/+11All closed source programs are evil? Um, yeah. I make closed source software, guess I'm going to Hell.
  • Blackham, on 10/19/2008, -2/+8I like that film
  • inactive, on 10/19/2008, -3/+9Article is not really accurate : Flex is not open source, only the SDK is ...
  • 4321234, on 10/19/2008, -2/+8hehehe
  • nick1000, on 10/19/2008, -1/+4No, actually both are. Flex Builder, the IDE, is not open source, nor is Flash Player. Although swf is an open specification.
  • hopecon, on 10/19/2008, -1/+4buried for inaccuracy
  • ArthurSucks, on 10/20/2008, -0/+3According to Wikipedia:

    "Before they started to write the code, they discussed on which licence they should release the code. They decided to make FileZilla an open-source project, because there were already many FTP clients available and they didn't think that they would sell even one copy if they made FileZilla commercial."

    It started out open source.
  • Elranzer, on 10/20/2008, -0/+2Did anything interesting become of SimCity going open source?
  • centran, on 10/19/2008, -7/+9Popeye's chicken is *****' awesome!

    At least that picture is form the article and not some random picture found on the site that has nothing to do with the article.
  • rollerboy, on 10/19/2008, -0/+2I thought this was going to be a list of things I would never use, turns out I was wrong. There is a lot of great stuff here.
  • nebkiwi, on 10/20/2008, -0/+2damn right you are.
  • johndavidjack, on 10/19/2008, -0/+2Dugg for Solaris.
  • underthewether, on 10/20/2008, -0/+2buried for little nicky
  • DixonPro, on 10/19/2008, -1/+3Woosh mother *****, do you speak it?
  • AirRaven, on 10/19/2008, -0/+1Rise of the Triad. Ahh, multiplayer sound effects!

    "Laaaaaaaaa da-daaaaaaa!"
  • Skooma714, on 10/19/2008, -0/+1BTRL had a civil war and forked.
  • SteveMax, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1"Filezilla by sourceforge.net"

    I think you should go back and figure out what sourceforge.net is. Hint: they're not software developers...
  • brettalton, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1Ever heard of Ray Kurzweil?
  • arjie, on 10/19/2008, -0/+1FS2 was an awesome game, but you know what made it even more awesome? This, from its license:
    "You may make copies of the Software for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use and to give to friends and acquaintances on a no cost noncommercial basis. This limited right to copy the Software expressly excludes any copying or distribution of the Software on a commercial basis, including, without limitation, bundling the product with any other product or service and any give away of the Software in connection with another product or service."
    See that? How freaking cool is that?

    Also Rise Of The Triad was also made GPL. Does anyone know if Duke Nukem 3D came with the data files free too? Also, was Duke Nukem II made open source? I loved that game. Oh man, memories.
  • ahuxley, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1Aleph One is a free and open-source first-person shooter engine based on the source code of Bungie Studios' Marathon 2: Durandal.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_One_(computer_game)
    source.bungie.org/
  • r00tus3r, on 10/19/2008, -1/+2Filezilla is AWESOME! I want an ftp proggie that lets me do things like run searches based on filenames, permissions or creation date. That would be EXTREMELY useful.
  • falstaff, on 10/19/2008, -0/+1There are a *****-ton of formerly closed-source games that are now open. For a decent start to the list:
    http://liberatedgames.com/
    Not all are fully open source, but most are.
  • AirRaven, on 10/19/2008, -1/+2...Yet it still isn't used on anywhere near the scale of Build/DOOMEngine/Quake.
    Which is kind of the problem. >_>

    Don't get me wrong- it's a fantastic game, and a top engine. The FS2SCP project's done some sterling work, but it just isn't popular enough.
  • chillymanilli, on 10/19/2008, -6/+7Mozilla make a shed load of money from google by having the google search box on it as default.

    Firefox is open source, anyone can view change or do whatever they want to the source code. It makes it safer not more vulnerable!
  • Remlapw, on 02/13/2009, -0/+0amazing article.. awesome read for sure

    http://www.how--to-make-money-online.blogspot.com
  • Jammerdelray, on 10/19/2008, -1/+1Firefox is open source.
  • ArthurSucks, on 10/20/2008, -1/+1They mention the Netscape Browser that became Firefox.
  • DontThinkSo, on 10/20/2008, -1/+0RPG Toolkit.

    http://toolkitzone.com

    Seems development has died down a bit though.
  • Stroggoth, on 10/19/2008, -2/+0Except that, as you admit, they are out of date and in need of new life, an investment of effort and improvement that the company open-sourcing them has already decided is not worth the effort.

    It is much like visiting the junk yard to pick up used cars that might have some life left in them. The leading-edge developers will just license the latest and greatest. But I guess you are right in a sense - the junkers are fun to toy with.
  • vincent9845, on 10/19/2008, -4/+0Filezilla by sourceforge.net I use it a lot useful ftp proggy...
  • hopecon, on 10/19/2008, -7/+1what's wrong with you people ?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox
  • shahnster, on 10/19/2008, -10/+2There is no secret to the origins of man or the Earth. You can read the facts in the Bible. It explains it all.
  • ahpro, on 10/19/2008, -20/+11Firefox has to be the number 1 product in terms of requests for it to be open source at the minute.
  • APer3Caper, on 10/19/2008, -17/+7Firefox is open source and it isn't for sale, so therefore there is no piracy. Check out Flock and Songbird. Both built off of Firefox.
  • Stroggoth, on 10/19/2008, -15/+2Sorry, why do I care about formerly closed source software? Is there something special about these?

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