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Aussie_Mo_Bro t1_ja03deq wrote

You've answered your own question.

They're allowing free access to this particular bit of code.

The reasons are varied, but could include

  • Based on an already open source code

  • Used in a paid product or service. The extra support is offered for free

  • It is intended for academic use

  • Its just a small project that they don't want any money for

  • It is a requirement for a third party site or service that your code is made freely available

  • They just want to make it freely available

  • It is a legal grey area, and charging for it would definitely be illegal

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UntangledQubit t1_ja049x4 wrote

There's a significant incentive for programmers early in their career, which is as a resume builder. College students are often advised to put school or independent projects on github to use during interviews.

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Tr4c3gaming t1_ja03m78 wrote

Also lets not forget other developers can add to it and work out possible problems, pretty cooperative envoirement at times.

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spudmix t1_ja07m3b wrote

This is a good answer, and I'd also add that many individuals/companies thrive only because they exist in an ecosystem where everyone contributes to the advancement of software. Amazon makes a lot of money selling cloud computing resources, for example, so it benefits them to make contributions to advance and grow software development in general which then drives more demand for cloud compute.

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