Is there any truth in the rumour that Home Assitant is going closed source?
A post was recently posted in a home assistant related facebook group asking the question to Paulus Schoutsen (balloob).
The post was deleted within minutes of it creation
So before i carry on my journey into Home Assistant, is this rumour just that and i can carry happy knowning that it will always be open source?
Obligatory not a dev, not speaking for the developers statement 
I’ve seen nothing to indicate any desire or intent to move Home Assistant to closed source. Not even in any of the private channels, or one to one chats with any of the developers.
It’s entirely possible the post was deleted because the poster was trolling - posts like that (and this) can easily come across as trolling, or attempting to spread FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). Particularly with zero evidence, and just a somebody told me that somebody said that… as the reason for asking.
MOD NOTE - as this runs the risk of getting emotional responses, I’ll remind any poster now to keep it civil please
This is not true.
Thankyou for the confirmation
Agree this can come across a trolling or FUD and i am happy to delete post now have confirmation
No need to delete IMO - you had an honest question
I know this was some time ago but could the same question be posed again?
With the recent YAML ‘debates’ on ‘those threads’ I feel like asking the same question again at this point in time would be worth it.
I’ve never registered on the forum to voice my opinion, but I have been seen on discord from time to time. I love this community and I love HA.
If this went down the emby path, it would be awful. Plain and simple.
As has been mentioned many times, there are 3 types of software:
The way it usually goes is:
Open, no money (except donations, buy me a coffee etc… but these are small) at this point devs still have day jobs
Even more donations… leaves devs with more money and they start considering cutting day job hours
Cut day job hours and have split income from that and project funds… This is a knife edge and very dangerous for the source code as it can very easily lead to:
Give up day job > entirely funded by open source project… at this point, there is NO turning back, it will inevitably lead to:
People will fork, alter, circumvent etc the code if you try and get more money… so we go closed… EMBY.
So the way I am looking at it is: we are already at 4. The YAML ‘thing’ seems to be that it ‘could’ be paving the way for closed. We have what 4 people on full payroll? Even if those are on a meager $20K (yeah right) that’s $80K after tax and expenses (lets assume 20%) so funds coming in: $96K. $96000 / 12 = $8000 / m which is $8000 = 1600 $5/month Nabu Casa subs. But they’re probably on double that? 3200 monthly subs?
Is this really the case? Or are all 4 on peanuts paving the way for closed? Please say I’m wrong, I want to be wrong!
Disclaimer: These are honest comments and questions and not meant offensive. You have to understand, a lot of people including myself have put a GREAT DEAL of time, money and energy into HA. If it really is going the emby route just say. I’d rather know now that I need to be looking for alternatives than have it dropped on me later.
Disclaimer 2: Please excuse the anon account/name but this seems to have attracted a lot of negativity and I would rather be unknown.
Much of what you asked there as covered in the thread on YAML - I’d recommend you go and read that.
Nothing I’ve seen, in public or elsewhere, has suggested that the devs plan on going closed source. Of course, they wouldn’t be broadcasting such a plan anyway, and wouldn’t tell anybody here if they had nefarious plans.
Hey Tink.
This may be true (questions answered in YAML thread) but that thread is vast and this is the thread that appears if you google “home assistant closed source”.
It would be reassuring to many who are googling this if the likes of @balloob chimed in as he did before and confirmed once again that this project is not going closed source / going the emby route.
I think they have the business model just right. I just hope they don’t go too far.
This is not true.
Thank you Paulus. I am very grateful to you for responding.
I recently noted in the “discussion” (aka rebellion) after the blog about the discontinuation of the “Supervised Installation” that the relationship between the community and Home Assistant has somehow suffered.
Maybe I’m just stating here what everyone already knows anyway:
I think that the excitement after the announcements about topics like “YAML”, “Supervised Installation” etc. is largely not due to the individual discontinued features but to the (justified or unjustified) fear of “closed source” described here.
Personally I trust @balloob and @Tinkerer when they write “not true”.
But I also have to say that the community is almost forced to think that way when in every second sentence steps are argued with “supportability” and “easier for beginners”. Because these are “problems” that I at least don’t know from other open source projects. This is something you only know from closed source. Again - I don’t want to imply anything here, I’m just trying to explain the emotions that have been boiling over here lately!
Thanks again, @balloob and team for your great work and honest and quick reply to this difficult topic!