Percy writes:
I don't know that the Internet needs another open-source bulletin board. There's phpBB and YaBB that I can think of off the top of my head, and I know there are a number of others.
You always need more software. Alternatives and competition are great.
Percy writes:
I've never participated in open source development. How does it work?
It's works however you want it to work. You can set yourself as Benevolent Dictator, meaning you still control as much as you want. Except that if people dont agree with the way your doing your job, they can fork the software, and continue to develop on it as their own project.
Or, you can do whatever..
The license you choose limits the use of your code by others.
For exampel, if you choose to put your code under a GPL license, developers can choose to fork the project and develop further on their own, however, all changes they make must be open source.
If you choose a BSD license, people can fork and make proprietary changes in your software as long as you are credited in the license for that product.
They are many more ofcourse, but those two describes the two categories of open source.
Dual licensing is also an option when going commercial with something.