Ask YC: Where are the open source consumer web apps?

5 points

18 years ago

On the front page right now is an article about DimDim, the first open source consumer web app I've heard of. ("Consumer" is meant to distinguish this type of app from something like ActiveCollab, which is also an open source web app but which is meant to be installed by the user on his own server). Are there any other good ones out there?

As opposed to open source desktop apps, web apps don't generally require any advanced computer knowledge. There's no compiling, no installing mac ports, etc. This seems like making an open source web app would be that much more fun and rewarding, because so many more people would be able to use it.

Have any of you considered making an open source web app? For awhile I've been toying with the idea of building a text-based team death match game, perhaps using MUD scripts. I think it would really make the game fun to add a graphic interface so that it could easily be played on an iPhone just by quickly tapping the screen. It'd be fun to work with other folks on it, and fun to be able to implement player/programmer additions. Will this kind of open source work become more prevalent?

edit: The first couple comments have been, basically, "What the hell are you talking about?"

DimDim seems different in a crucial way from open source web apps like shopping carts, blogging software, and project management tools (Trac, ActiveCollab). With DimDim, the open source product is of primary concern to the site's users, anyone is free to use the product, and the product appeals to a wider swath of humanity. On the other hand, users aren't primarily concerned with what shopping cart a site uses (the primary concern is buying something) or what blogging system a site uses (the primary concern is the content). Projects like Trac generally are installed to be used primarily by a select group of people, and they appeal to fewer people.

Another difference: DimDim exists only at dimdim.com . The project is not about providing other people with the means of creating their own web meeting site; it's about being THE open source web meeting site. Another way of explaining this is that Reddit is a web application, while there are also many "make your own reddit" kits which are also web applications. DimDim is more like reddit.com than a "make your own reddit" web app.

Hopefully this clarifies the distinction. Maybe someone else could explain it succinctly.