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Luke Klinker's Talon for Twitter goes open source
- Developer Luke Klinker announced that the current version of his Talon for Twitter app is open source.
- Klinker cited the decision as the “obvious next step for the app.”
- Current Talon users might not notice much of a difference at first, though they could see new features in the future.
Knowing how successful the original version of Talon for Twitter was, it might not be a surprise that its revamped Material Design version is currently the top paid social app. There is clearly a demand for third-party Twitter apps that look good, a demand that developer Luke Klinker knows extends to other developers and tinkerers.
That might be why Klinker announced that the current version of Talon will be open source from now on.
According to Klinker on his blog, this was the “obvious next step for the app” and called this his “most significant contribution to date.” He also said this is an “amazing way to give back to the community that has given me so much” and that he has been “an outspoken advocate of open source work for years.”
I am taking an exciting new step for Talon today… The Material Design version of the app (that is currently on the Play Store), is now open source. This is a pretty significant contribution, to say the least!— Luke Klinker (@lukeklinker) June 14, 2018
As for what this means moving forward, regular users might not notice much of a difference. Klinker will still distribute Talon as a paid app on the Play Store and update the app as needed. The updates will continue to go through the Play Store and at the same frequency as before.
However, the biggest takeaway is that Talon users might start to see contributions and features from other people. Those people can also look at Talon’s innards and get ideas for contributions and inspirations for their own apps.
This is not the first time Klinker decided to open source his apps. Back in 2014, he open sourced the original version of Talon as a response to the app hitting the Twitter token limit.
If you want to check out the project, it is up on GitHub for the world to see. For normal folks, you can download Talon at the link below.