James5, great idea.
I respectfully disagree. Putting the software there would enable those who can contribute to help in the evolution of this system. If LS is concerned about losing control, they haven’t managed a github repository before. I suppose one could fork the repository and go wild with it, but to what end?
What is LS’s business model? Are they selling SW? No. Are they planning to license the SW in the future? I seriously doubt it. Are they in the business to provide usable and reliable machines for metal working? That would be my guess. If that truly is the case, then enrolling the squad of willing and experienced developers into the fold (without cost, I might add) seems to be a smart thing to do.
But I will admit that I am biased. I think I can help and improve their product. I could be wrong.
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I understand where you’re coming from. But I also understand the LS model to control their IP. I’m pretty neutral on it - I own a company in the software business. I like open-source and use it and I like closed source and use it - and I like to make money on both. 
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I understand, but neither of us know LS’s intentions. From my viewpoint, they are not in the software business but have made their own software to be able to control the direction of their real, presumably money making, products. They can do that just as well with an open source SW model.
However, your point is taken, lots of different perspectives on this and we don’t know what LS is thinking.
On this - yes - I think we (and many others on here) could provide some great input. Hopefully they collect good info from the forum. I’d like to see a more formalized collection and feedback process, but hey…they’re doing ok.
Well, this has turned into a lively topic. This kind of discussion has been going around for the past 20 years or so as Linux gained more market traction (open vs closed, what’s the company actually selling, IP, etc). Personally, I think it would be great to open-source FC on github and have the LS developers live in the world pull requests. They accept them or reject, there’s no doubt that direct user contributions would evolve FC beyond where it is today.
I’ve only spent 3 afternoons with my new Pro and getting acquainted with the system. I can say, coming from both Haas and GRBL cnc machines, there can be several immediate LS alterations to improve the user experience. I know you have your own thoughts on changes or feature requests. This is where github’s project management infrastructure comes in. Issue management, release notes, source, pulls, etc are all valuable tools.
I’d encourage LS to consider the move to opening FC. The can of worms will eventually work itself out, your software revision cycle will happen faster, the user experience will improve and you’ll spend less on developer services.
Thoughts anyone?
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