Rules around open sourced projects
Near the end of last year, I found a website that I really enjoyed and was 100% believed in. However, it was buggy, had some problems, could be improved, etc.
I ended up reaching out to the developer & founder and asked him if he needed help or if he would be willing to sell it. He did not want to sell it and said instead that he would prefer if it went open source which is totally cool! I'm happy to contribute to open source
But the problem now is that it is still "not being maintained." He opened sourced the project, I forked it, fixed a bug, and then created a PR back to the project...and nothing has changed. It seems to be a problem where he wasn't interested in working on it while it was private and he is also not interested in maintaining an open source project.
So, my question is, what can I do? I would feel a bit guilty copying it from open source and then making improvements under my own name/domain/project...but it doesn't seem like it is going to be improved any longer. I could imagine either working on it privately as my own or possibly doing it open source, but, part of the struggle is that I would look to monetize parts of it which seems weird? (Note - part of the site is already monetized even though it is open sourced) (Also note, it is MIT licensed)
Thoughts? Recommendations? Any advice?
As long as you are open/up-front that you are a fork of the original project, I don't think it is an issue. Is the license used when open-sourcing the project compatible with that approach as well?
That's a good point - I could definitely do that. Thank you!
I would wager that almost 99% of software projects that exist today are based on open source software. Your using someone else’s project no matter what you do.
An example closer to home: Nylas made an email client called N1. They decided to dump it, and made it open source. 2 forks were made, one open source and one closed source. The first was Nylas mail lives (it died within a year). The second fork was Mailspring, it is freemium and still going strong.
I think you are definitely on the right path with this as you have already gotten the (arguably) toughest part accomplished, which is getting someone to open source something.
I do agree with @whipdancer, but I think before actually moving forward with a diverging fork you may want to see if you can extend communication even more. Maintaining the project may not fit with whatever goals this person has long-term, so they may be amenable to having you take the maintenance over for issues and PRs while they still retain "ownership," or final say on things.
If that goes south, MIT is a perfect license for going off and doing your own thing. Good luck!