So I have an idea I've been building into a SaaS for a while. Without going into specifics the idea is about collecting data from governmental health-related resources, augmenting the data (eg identifying user-provided locations through Google Maps), joining across different data-sources, canonicalising etc, and then allowing the user to search through it in a way that's IMHO much more intuitive than what's provided in the original resources. In addition, given that official sources tend to be obtuse my aim was to simplify the information and make it understandable to the layperson.<p>Now given that this is centered in the health-industry privacy becomes even more pivotal as I wouldn't want some random SaaS company collecting information pertaining to my health and selling it or utilising in nefarious ways.<p>Thus, I was thinking, what better way to prove that my service is doing none of that than open-sourcing my code and offering the paid service as the way to use it. Would that 'gesture' be enough to put peoples' minds at ease and prove that I have no intention or desire in tracking them?<p>As an added bonus I was hoping that open-sourcing the code would help reinvigorate my resolve as my velocity has been dropping and my self-preservation instincts have me second-guessing my idea and its usefulness. Part of me was hoping that open-sourcing the code would: (1) force me to do it better cause people other than me may see it (2) help validate the idea and its marketability (3) potentially let interested parties help me make the code better and (4) allow me to use other open-source-friendly services like CI/CD for free since in the interest of keeping this service as private and 'true' as I can get it I'm doing it all out-of-pocket and am not interested in receiving funding for it.<p>What do y'all think?<p>Edit: I should've mentioned that I'm well-aware that someone may scoop my idea, do it better/faster, and I would have contributed to someone else's potential success. My code is nothing magical apart from it being heaps of work and the primary challenge is getting the service to work efficiently without breaking the bank hence my question.
Anyone who can read through your source code can make the program themselves. Someone would want to buy the service because they can't program nor read your code. Make it a guarantee if you think it is a selling point.
Most likely, in my opinion, there's already plenty of paid solutions out there and the bad things you are concerned about are already happening on a massive scale.