So with open source software more on my mind lately I was wondering - while I get the benefits of transparency and such, how safe is it? If the source code is available to all, isn’t it easier to breach for people (like the recent cookies hack)? If I’d have an open source password manager, would it be easier for people to get my passwords somehow than if I use something not open source? Do I just not understand how software works in general?

And what are other benefits that may be not so obvious to someone not so knowledgable about this?

Edit: thank you all for really insightful answers! Among other things I also learned just how much I don’t know :)

  • @designated_fridgeEnglish
    8•1 year ago

    I think one general benefit of open source is that in general - they are built for the user rather than for the stakeholders.

    If Spotify was an open source app - you know for sure you would be able to hide podcasts for example (for people who don’t care about podcasts and just want a music experience). However, since for Spotify The Business it’s better to piss off X% of their users if Y% of their users turn into podcast users - they’re not going care about the angry X%.

    So in general - in open source apps you’ll generally find features users actually want and very rarely the app will try to push new features on you because they’re trying to make numbers look good on their quarterly report.