I’ve noticed a small issue with my email client for quite some time now where composing a new email will have several blank lines by default.
It’s not too much of an issue to simply delete them but hey, maybe no one had pointed this out before! So I filed a bug report only to get this response… basically it’s not a bug, its a feature!
Is it something actually open source if
It requires a proprietary backend, kept secret
Not a single pull request is approved, all contributions are ignored for years, then finally rejected
The issue tracker is kept secret
?
Is the source code released under a license that allows you to use, change and distribute it? Then yes, it’s open source. Open collaboration is a separate thing.
As for point two and three: have you ever seen what happens when someone new tries to get a patch intl the Linux kernel, the world’s most famous open source project? There is no single issue tracker, the only way to submit patches is by email, the patches themselves get through several chains of developers responsible for specific parts of the kernel, getting code reviewed can take a while, and most people give up before they’ve refactored their code to the Linux kernel specifications.
The status of the server doesn’t make any difference when it comes to open sourcesness. It wasn’t that long ago that every open source browser was exactly that: an open source client to proprietary servers.
As long as they can put on their website “We support open source!” who cares right?