A user asked, why I didn't release the SD-8516 as open source. He said philosophically he wouldn't get involved in the project because he was an open source advocate.

I thought about it for a long time and although I am sympathetic to open source in general, and I have released some projects (notably VC-2) as open source on github, I realized that it was a category error to assume VC-3 and VC-4 should also be released as open source.

First, I don't want to be critical of open source, but the fact is not everything needs to be open source. The Super Nintendo is a great example. If someone told you they didn't buy a Super Nintendo because it wasn't open source, this wouldn't make any sense. It's just a completely different category of product. The fact that software is involved means nothing. The Legend of Zelda wasn't an open source game. So why do I have to release my software as open source? I don't understand the notion behind this.

Secondly, there is a very real problem with quality in the open source world. When anyone can fork your project and make changes, your project is no longer special. It is no longer saleable either. And I do not plan to survive on donations and github subscriptions. If you like what I made, you can afford the $1 or $5 or $10 or whatever it is going to be. Let's be realistic. A Commodore 64 could retail for $299, $399, or more, and people would buy it. This is probably going to be $10 on itch.io. If you think I am price gouging or doing some kind of evil corporate stuff, frankly, I don't agree.

In fact this is your chance to prove the old adage that software piracy is justified by high prices. If someone pirates my system or game, instead of spending $5 or $10, which is very cheap – they are, frankly, a hypocrite. But this really isn't about money. It's about my personal vision. I have a dream, a goal, a vision. Do you share that vision? If not, I don't want you to have access to the source code. I do not want “anyone” to be a part of this. I don't mean to be elitist – I am not the best programmer in the world. But this is mine – my project, my dream, my life. This is the only thing I ever did in my life and it's mine. Philosophically, if Stardew Valley didn't have to be open source, neither does this. It is viciously cruel to expect me to donate my life to giving away free software. At this point, if someone is not interested because I am not giving everything away for free, frankly that is not the kind of person I want in this project. I really am trying to be fair here, but it's a thorny political issue. I think Steve Jobs said it best: