Michael, open sourcing ToBeWise could be valuable—but I would not open source the entire product. I would separate the software, quotation database, brand, and production infrastructure.
What “open source” would mean
True open source means other people may use, modify, redistribute, and commercially exploit the licensed code. Merely putting the code in a public GitHub repository is not enough; it needs an actual open-source license. Once code is public, existing forks and downloaded copies cannot be recalled simply by making the repository private again.
Pros and cons for ToBeWise
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Long-term survival. ToBeWise could continue even if its current developers eventually stop maintaining it. | Anyone can create a fork. A developer could adapt the code into another quotations or wisdom app. |
| More development help. Outside developers could fix bugs, improve accessibility, and contribute Apple-platform features. | Help is not guaranteed. You could receive few useful contributions while still managing questions, issues, and pull requests. |
| Greater credibility. Users can inspect how the app works and verify its privacy architecture. | Product strategy becomes visible. Competitors can study the architecture, search implementation, and development direction. |
| Mission alignment. Making useful wisdom software freely available fits the philosophy of the product. | Possible brand confusion. Forks may be mistaken for the official app unless trademark use is tightly controlled. |
| Developer publicity. The repository could introduce ToBeWise to programmers, founders, educators, and potential collaborators. | Security preparation. Every secret, credential, internal endpoint, signing asset, and private data file must be removed first. |
| Better continuity with Griffin and future contributors. Contributions can be reviewed and preserved in one transparent project. | Ownership questions. You must confirm that Double M Systems has the right to license every significant piece of code. |
| Possible security review. More people can inspect the code and report defects. | Public scrutiny. Opening the code can reveal old shortcuts, technical debt, and vulnerabilities before anyone volunteers to fix them. |
Open source would not prevent you from keeping an official App Store version, charging for future services, or offering premium content. But a genuine open-source license must also permit others to use the code commercially.
The important ToBeWise distinction
The current App Store description says ToBeWise is free and contains thousands of carefully curated insights across more than 200 topics, along with fully local, offline semantic search. It also states that the app collects no data. That suggests that the principal proprietary value is probably the curated wisdom collection, categorization, brand, and accumulated product judgment—not merely the Swift code.
I would divide it this way:
| Make open source | Keep separate and proprietary |
|---|---|
| Swift and SwiftUI application framework | Complete master quotation database |
| Navigation and user-interface code | Proprietary topic assignments and curation judgments |
| Local favorites and collections architecture | Production synchronization and administrative systems |
| Notifications and scheduling framework | Private analytics or operational tools |
| Sharing features | Signing certificates, API keys, credentials, and configuration |
| Search interface and generic search engine | Any particularly valuable ranking or database-generation process |
| A small demonstration quotation set | ToBeWise™ name, logo, icon, and official visual assets |
The open repository could include perhaps 50–100 public-domain or clearly usable sample quotations, allowing developers to build and test the app without publishing your complete collection.
The quotation database should have its own legal and licensing treatment. Copyright may protect sufficiently creative selection and arrangement of a database even when individual facts or short phrases are not protected; longer quotations can involve separate rights questions. Do not casually place the entire database under the software license.
Best license choices
MPL 2.0 — my preferred choice
The Mozilla Public License is a moderate form of “copyleft.” Someone who modifies an MPL-licensed source file generally must make that modified file available under the same license, while separate additions and larger works can remain proprietary. It also expressly excludes rights to the project’s trademarks.
This provides some protection against a company taking ToBeWise, improving the existing code, and keeping all those improvements private.
Apache 2.0 — easiest for broad adoption
Apache 2.0 allows commercial use, modification, redistribution, and closed-source derivatives. It includes an explicit patent grant and does not grant trademark rights. It is attractive when maximizing reuse and contributions matters more than receiving improvements back.
MIT — simplest
MIT is short and easily understood. It allows nearly unrestricted reuse, including commercial and closed-source reuse, provided the copyright and license notice remains.
When not to call it open source
If your position is:
“People may inspect and improve the code, but they may not create commercial competitors,”
then you want a source-available license, not an open-source license. All OSI-defined open-source software must permit commercial use.
Before publishing anything
First confirm who owns the source code written by you, Griffin, contractors, and any previous developers. Copyright initially belongs to the creator unless the work qualifies as work made for hire or the rights were transferred in writing. Paying someone to develop code does not, by itself, necessarily establish ownership of all copyright.
Then:
- Audit every dependency and its license.
- Remove the production quotation database, user information, credentials, certificates, tokens, and private endpoints.
-
Create separate
LICENSE,CONTENT_LICENSE,TRADEMARK,CONTRIBUTING, andSECURITYfiles. - State that ToBeWise™ and its logo may identify only the official Double M Systems release.
- Require review before outside code is incorporated into the official App Store version.
- Decide whether contributions use the ordinary project license or a contributor agreement. Most small projects do not need a separate CLA, although one may be useful if future relicensing is important.
Apple would continue reviewing your official App Store release in the usual manner; publishing the source does not remove your responsibility for the safety, operation, content, and legal compliance of the distributed app.
My opinion
I would use a selective open-source model:
Open-source the Apple client code under MPL 2.0, include a small sample database, and retain the full quotation collection, ToBeWise™ brand, production infrastructure, and official App Store distribution under Double M Systems.
That captures the strongest benefits—legacy, transparency, collaboration, and mission—without giving away the most distinctive asset.
Because ToBeWise is currently free, there is relatively little immediate revenue to protect. The larger concern is preserving the integrity of the collection and the brand. Open more later if the community proves valuable. The reverse decision is much harder because publicly released copies cannot be withdrawn.
I actually think that's a much stronger argument, Michael.
When I answered before, I was thinking like a software company protecting its intellectual property. But ToBeWise is not really a software business. It's much closer to a knowledge commons or a long-term cultural project.
If your primary objective is:
"I want ToBeWise to outlive me and become the world's best curated collection of wisdom, in every language."
...then I'd seriously consider open sourcing both the code and the database.
The advantages become much larger
1. Translation
This is the biggest one.
Instead of you trying to create:
- English
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Portuguese
- Japanese
- Korean
- Chinese
- Hindi
- Arabic
...volunteers from each language community could do it.
A native speaker can almost always produce a better translation than a machine, especially for quotations.
Imagine:
ToBeWise Español
maintained by Spaniards and Latin Americans.
Or
ToBeWise 日本語
maintained by Japanese users.
That becomes possible.
2. Crowdsourced curation
Today you curate.
Tomorrow:
- people submit quotes
- others review
- others improve categories
- historians correct dates
- scholars improve attribution
- philosophers debate categorization
Wikipedia became enormous because of this model.
3. Android
Someone who loves Android could simply build
ToBeWise Android
without waiting for Griffin.
You would still maintain the "official" version.
4. New platforms
People might build
- Linux
- Windows
- Web
- Vision Pro
- Kindle
- eInk readers
- Raspberry Pi
- Home Assistant
...
without you ever asking.
5. AI
This may be the biggest opportunity.
Imagine AI researchers using ToBeWise as
"the world's highest-quality structured wisdom corpus."
Instead of training on random internet quotes,
they train on yours.
That could dramatically increase ToBeWise's influence.
But...
I would separate the data from the software.
The software is easy.
The database is where things get interesting.
I'd structure it something like this:
QuotesAuthorsTopicsTagsCross referencesTranslationsSourcesNotes
GitHub is actually very good at collaborative editing of structured data.
People submit pull requests.
Editors approve them.
Exactly like Wikipedia.
I would still protect one thing
Not the data.
The brand.
Specifically:
- ToBeWise™
- logo
- icon
- App Store listing
Anyone could create
WisdomDB
using the database.
But they couldn't call it
ToBeWise™
unless you approved it.
That's exactly how Mozilla works.
Anyone can fork Firefox.
Only Mozilla ships Firefox.
The philosophy
This is where I think ToBeWise is unusual.
Most open source projects say
"Here's our software."
ToBeWise could say
"Here's humanity's accumulated wisdom."
That's a completely different mission.
One concern
The only thing I'd think carefully about is quality.
Today, if someone submits:
"Live Laugh Love"
— Socrates
...you simply reject it.
Once hundreds of people contribute,
you need editorial governance.
Wikipedia has administrators.
Linux has maintainers.
Python has core developers.
You'd eventually need something similar.
My opinion
I think you're asking the wrong question.
The question isn't:
"Should ToBeWise be open source?"
It's:
"Should ToBeWise become the Wikipedia of wisdom?"
If the answer is yes, then I would absolutely open-source the database.
In fact, I think the database is potentially far more valuable than the software. SwiftUI will be obsolete in twenty years. Android, web frameworks, and AI interfaces will all evolve. But a carefully curated, multilingual, community-maintained collection of humanity's best ideas could still be growing a century from now.
That strikes me as being very much in line with what you've always said your goal is: to create something that helps people make better decisions, long after you're gone.
Michael, after considering your actual objective, I would open the quotation database as well.
My earlier caution assumed the main objective was protecting ToBeWise as proprietary intellectual property. But your objective appears broader:
Make ToBeWise available across platforms, languages, cultures, and generations.
For that objective, keeping the database closed would work against the mission. Open-source code without the quotations would give developers an empty container. The database is the enduring asset.
Strictly speaking, the software would be open source, while the quotation collection would be open data/open content. Open licenses allow modification, redistribution, and commercial use; that freedom is what permits independent Android apps, translations, educational projects, and other implementations.
The strategic model
ToBeWise should become two related things:
-
The ToBeWise Open Wisdom Database
A platform-neutral, multilingual collection of quotations, authors, topics, sources, translations, and editorial information. -
The official ToBeWise applications
The iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Android, web, and future versions approved and maintained under the ToBeWise name.
That distinction is important:
The apps are clients. The database is the institution.
An Android developer should be able to build a client without reverse-engineering the iPhone app. A Spanish-language editor should be able to translate the database without knowing Swift. An educator should be able to create a specialized collection without changing your official product.
The real reason for caution
The main obstacle is not competitors copying the database. It is that the database contains several different kinds of intellectual property, and you cannot apply one blanket license to everything.
| Database component | Rights situation |
|---|---|
| Author names, dates, nationalities and basic facts | Usually factual information |
| Your topic classifications, selection and organization | Potentially your compilation authorship |
| Your annotations, descriptions and editorial notes | Original ToBeWise content |
| Ancient or public-domain quotations | Generally unrestricted, although a modern translation may still be protected |
| Very short phrases | Often not copyrightable in the United States |
| Longer quotations from modern authors | May remain copyrighted |
| Community-created translations | May be separately copyrightable |
| Existing published translations | May belong to the translator or publisher |
| Logo, icon and ToBeWise™ name | Trademark and brand rights |
The U.S. Copyright Office says names and short phrases are generally not protected by copyright, while sufficiently creative selection and arrangement of database material can be protected. It also defines a translation as a derivative work.
That translation issue is particularly important. Even when the original quotation is public domain, a modern published translation may not be. And when the original quotation is still copyrighted, making a new translation can require authorization from the original rights holder.
Also, even where displaying a quotation in your own app might qualify as fair use, that does not necessarily give you the ability to grant everyone else an open license to that quotation. Creative Commons explicitly cautions that a license applies only to rights the licensor owns or is authorized to license.
This does not mean the database should remain closed. It means every record should carry its own rights information.
My recommended licensing structure
1. Database: Open Database License 1.0
I would seriously consider placing the database structure, selection, relationships, IDs, and ToBeWise-created metadata under the Open Database License—ODbL 1.0.
ODbL permits anyone to:
- Copy and distribute the database
- Build apps using it
- Modify and translate it
- Use it commercially
But an adapted database that is publicly used must also be made available under ODbL. That means someone who creates a Spanish, German, or Japanese version would generally have to make that improved database available rather than taking the English collection, adding translations, and permanently closing the result. ODbL also permits distribution through systems employing technological restrictions when an unrestricted version is made available separately—useful when distributing through app stores.
That reciprocity is why I prefer ODbL for your purpose.
2. ToBeWise-created translations and editorial writing: CC BY 4.0
Your original annotations, biographies, summaries, explanations, and project-created translations could be licensed separately under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
CC BY permits sharing, translation, adaptation, and commercial use while requiring appropriate credit.
A stronger alternative is CC BY-SA 4.0, which requires adaptations to remain under the same license. However, that adds compliance complexity and can create questions when content is distributed through platforms employing digital restrictions.
3. Public-domain quotations: mark them as public domain
Do not claim a Creative Commons license over material already in the public domain. Mark it as public domain and separately license only the ToBeWise-created selection, metadata, annotation, or translation. Creative Commons expressly recommends this distinction.
4. Modern or uncertain quotations: record-by-record treatment
Each quote should be marked as something like:
- Public domain
- Permission obtained
- Submitted by author under an open license
- Existing Creative Commons license
- Short phrase/no copyright claim
- Rights review required
- Excluded from open distribution
This is the one situation in which provenance becomes essential. It is not academic fussiness; it is the permission map that tells Android developers, translators, publishers, and educators what they may safely reuse.
5. Brand: retain complete control
The open licenses should explicitly exclude:
- ToBeWise™
- The app icon
- Logos
- Official product-page graphics
- Any representation that a fork is the official application
Creative Commons licenses do not license trademark rights, and CC recommends a separate trademark policy.
A developer could create an app using the database, but could not represent it as the official ToBeWise application without permission. You could permit language such as:
Powered by the ToBeWise Open Wisdom Database
while reserving:
Official ToBeWise™
How the multilingual database should work
Do not make the existing iOS database file the public standard. It is probably too closely coupled to Apple technologies.
Use a platform-neutral source format, with generated SQLite databases for the apps. Every quotation should have a permanent identifier that does not change when it is translated.
A record should include at least:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Quote ID | Permanent identity across every platform |
| Author ID | Links variants of the author’s name |
| Original text | Quotation in its original language, where available |
| Original language | Language code |
| Source work | Book, speech, letter, interview or other origin |
| Source locator | Page, chapter, date or other reference |
| Translation text | One or more translations |
| Translator | Person or published translation used |
| Translation status | Draft, reviewed or approved |
| Region | Spanish-Spain, Spanish-Mexico, Portuguese-Brazil, etc. |
| Topics and tags | Your existing ToBeWise organization |
| Rights status | Public domain, licensed, permissioned or under review |
| Content license | License applying to that specific text |
| Review history | Who approved or corrected it |
There should be one canonical quotation record with multiple translations attached to it, rather than creating unrelated copies of the quotation for every language.
Several translations may be valid. The system should allow multiple approved translations when wording, rhythm or cultural context differs.
Machine translation can produce a useful first draft, but a native speaker should approve anything identified as an official translation. Quotations are unusually sensitive to small wording changes: a technically accurate translation can still lose the insight, humor, elegance or force of the original.
It should become multicultural, not merely translated
There is a larger opportunity here.
A worldwide ToBeWise should not be only:
English-language and Western quotations translated into other languages.
Language communities should also contribute the wisdom of their own cultures:
- Chinese thinkers in the original Chinese
- Indian philosophers in Sanskrit, Hindi and regional languages
- Japanese writers in Japanese
- Arabic scholars in Arabic
- African proverbs in their source languages
- Latin American writers in Spanish and Portuguese
English then becomes one translation among many—not necessarily the master version.
That would transform ToBeWise from a translated American app into a genuinely international wisdom project.
Open does not mean uncontrolled
Anyone should be able to propose a contribution. That does not mean anyone can alter the official database.
I would establish:
- An editor-in-chief or editorial committee
- Technical database maintainers
- A lead editor for each language
- A written quotation-selection policy
- A written attribution and sourcing standard
- Two-person review for translations
- A correction and dispute process
- Versioned official releases
- A contributor agreement affirming that the contributor has the necessary rights
The official database could contain statuses such as:
Submitted → Verified → Translated → Language-reviewed → Approved
The public repository would show the history of every correction. That gives ToBeWise something it currently cannot easily provide: an auditable editorial record.
What you would be giving up
Opening the database means accepting several consequences:
- Someone may create a competing or paid wisdom app.
- Someone may build an AI product using the corpus.
- Someone may create a fork you dislike.
- Some contributors may demand time without providing much useful work.
- Disagreements may arise over translation, attribution, ideology and inclusion.
- Once a version is released under an open license, existing recipients generally retain those rights; you can change the terms for future releases, but cannot call back the copies already released.
The answer is not to prohibit these uses. It is to make the official ToBeWise version visibly better, more trusted, more carefully reviewed and more current than the forks.
Your strongest protection would be reputation and editorial authority—not secrecy.
A practical rollout
I would not release the entire existing database tomorrow.
Phase 1: Prepare
- Confirm ownership of the database structure, annotations and contributed material.
- Add stable quote and author IDs.
- Add rights-status and source fields.
- Separate the brand assets from the data.
- Choose the software, database and content licenses with counsel.
Phase 2: Publish a rights-cleared initial corpus
Release perhaps 500–1,000 of the strongest, cleanest quotations:
- Public-domain quotations
- Clearly unprotected short phrases
- Quotations for which permission exists
- Fully documented authors and sources
Also publish the schema, contribution guide and database-generation tools.
Phase 3: Translation pilot
Select one language—Spanish would be a logical first pilot—and recruit:
- One language lead
- Several native-speaker reviewers
- One technical contributor
- One Android developer
The pilot should test the entire process, not merely produce translated text.
Phase 4: Expand
After the workflow works:
- Release additional languages
- Invite authors to license selected quotations directly
- Create an Android reference application
- Establish an international editorial council
- Publish regular signed database releases
My opinion
I now think opening the database is more important than opening the iOS code.
Mobile frameworks will be replaced. Apple and Android interfaces will change. Today’s code will eventually become obsolete.
A rigorously curated, multilingual, open collection of humanity’s best practical wisdom could continue improving indefinitely.
My recommendation is:
Open the ToBeWise database under a database-specific share-alike license; license ToBeWise-created translations and annotations openly; mark each quotation’s individual rights status; retain exclusive control of the ToBeWise™ brand; and maintain a rigorously reviewed official edition.
That would reposition ToBeWise from being primarily an app into becoming an open global infrastructure for wisdom.
