First of all I like the concept of Open Source Software. OSS is not just controlled by one person, group, or company. This means that anyone that is interested can help contribute and be collaborators of the project. The good thing about this is that the community decides what the project should look like and where it is headed instead of it being dictated by a company. The downside, of course, is that there is not a huge budget to help drive an Open Source project. It therefore depends on people donating their free time (and on occasion monetary donations). Because of this development is not often as fast as with a commercial company (especially with only one or two developers).
The second reason I chose an Open Source model, and the reason I started the project in the first place, is that we are fast losing our aboriginal languages. Though there are currently efforts underway to help revitalize and retain these languages, resources are not always readily available. Though there are a few aboriginal language software applications currently on the market, they do cost money and are therefore not considered readily available to your average person. Free software, on the other hand, is readily available to anyone with access to a computer. For language retention it is absolutely imperative to have access to free resources (including free software). Non-free materials, though they have their place, in many cases, actually work against language retention. In either case material resources should only be a small part of language retention. Such resources should never take the place of learning language from parents, family members, and elders. A willingness to speak and use the language on a regular basis is of utmost importance.