Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

The problem is that in the minds of FOSS people, you might as well try to argue that you want more proprietary software.

The "major platform hijacks our code for the web" is a valid concern, but the FOSS people have always kinda gone "well fuck you for having these concerns". That's... I guess fine enough when the majority of FOSS wasn't part of a SaaS stack, but now that the majority of big name libraries and tools are, it's becoming clearer and clearer that the OSD is just too lacking for those concerns.

To be clear, this isn't a defense of SSPL or similar anti-Bezos licenses (the best one I've seen is the BSL, which transforms into a traditional OSS license after X years if you want my opinion), moreso an observation that there's a clear need here that can't be met by OSD. Paying developers on top of the FOSS model is hard; doing support favors entrenched suppliers because of the CYA problem (this is why AWS has the advantage they do) and I'm pretty sure that even if you do the support model, it usually just doesn't pan out.

The main reason 90% of these licenses suck is far moreso because lawyers will draft contracts and licenses in such a way for you that they'll always give you the advantage. The SSPL being borderline impossible to comply with is by design for example.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: