Not quite Open Source
Hanno Böck
Open Source
Free Software
Free Software is usually defined by the four freedoms:
- use
- study
- share
- improve
Open Source Definition
10 aspects that define Open Source
Free Software and Open Source are just different ways of looking at the same thing
Using the term "Free Software" emphasizes user freedom, while Open Source emphasizes technical and business aspects
A license or a software that qualifies as "Free Software" also qualifies as "Open Source" and vice versa
Sometimes people use "FOSS" or "FLOSS" as inclusive terms
There are different flavors of FOSS
- Copyleft licenses (GPL, AGPL)
- Permissive licenses (BSD, MIT)
- Public domain declarations (CC0)
Some things are neither Open Source nor Free Software.
- Software that provides code, but does not allow changes to the code
- Software that does not allow software to be used for certain things or by certain people
FOSS is very successful in many areas
FOSS has advantages for the user
No restrictions telling what you can and cannot do with the software
A technically savvy user can change FOSS software and adapt it
A not technically savvy user can ask or pay others to adapt it
FOSS is more resilient to change
If the company developing a proprietary software ceases to exist or loses interest then the software usually goes away
If the company developing a FOSS software ceases to exist then others can pick it up
If you use a FOSS software service you usually have the opportunity to go to a competitor if you are not satisfied
FOSS can also have advantages for the developer or publisher
Free Software and Open Source have a good reputation
Publishing software as FOSS can invite community contributions
Some users won't use your software if it's not FOSS
Some software distribution channels only accept FOSS
(e.g. Debian)
But there are also things you cannot do with FOSS
You cannot control what people do with your software
You cannot control who uses your software
You can sell your software, but once it's out you can't stop people from getting it for free
You can sell support for your software, but you can't stop others from offering better, cheaper or more convenient support for your software
You can sell services based on your software, but you can't stop others from selling services based on your software
Sometimes people want to have the good reputation of FOSS, but they don't want to accept the things they can't do with it
What shall they do?
One option is lying
Another option is causing confusion
The Cloud
Cloud providers sell services based on FOSS
You could say this is perfectly normal and expected
Lately some companies have announced license changes to protect them from this "abuse"
Part 1: Commons Clause
Without limiting other conditions in the License, the grant of rights under the License will not include, and the License does not grant to you, the right to Sell the Software.
In August 2018 Redis adopted the Commons Clause for some of their modules
(Redis itself is still under BSD license)
Part 2: Server Side Public License (SSPL)
MongoDB has announced to adopt this
They claim that it's Open Source and even asked OSI to approve it
If you make the functionality of the Program or a modified version available to third parties as a service, you must make the Service Source Code available via network download to everyone at no charge, under the terms of this License. [...] “Service Source Code” means the Corresponding Source for the Program or the modified version, and the Corresponding Source for all programs that you use to make the Program or modified version available as a service, including, without limitation, management software, user interfaces, application program interfaces, automation software, monitoring software, backup software, storage software and hosting software, all such that a user could run an instance of the service using the Service Source Code you make available. (SSPL)
This may sound like a strong version of Copyleft, but it goes much further
The only intention is to make offering a service based on MongoDB completely impractical
SSPL says you can't offer a service with SSPL software that runs on Linux
Linux is released under GPL-2, which is itself a Copyleft license
Essentially this is an attempt to "hack" the Open Source Definition
Part 3: Confluent Community License
Ultimately what all these companies want:
Amazon, Google and Microsoft shall not be allowed to compete with our services
This alone wouldn't be a problem, they could put that in their licenses, but it wouldn't be Open Source anymore
But these companies want their software still be recognized as Open Source, which is fundamentally incompatible
Their solution: Confusion, deception, lying
They're not always lying
Is this “Open Source”?
No.
Commons Clause FAQThat's clear and honest
That's a lie
Sorry, that doesn't make any sense
You probably wouldn't think that
"Modern open source management"
is a way of saying
"We help Open Source Software to change their license to be no longer Open Source"
For those who aren’t commercial cloud providers, i.e. 99.9999% of the users of these projects, this adds no meaningful restriction on what they can do with the software, while allowing us to continue investing heavily in its creation. (Confluent)
This is interesting, because it's trying to tell you that none of this is relevant for you unless you are a cloud provider
Yet it's bogus: You may not be a cloud provider, but you may very well be a customer
Even if you run the software yourself this may still be relevant: You may want to keep your options open for the future
This isn't a mere technicality that's irrelevant for most users, this is a core aspect of what FOSS is supposed to be
But developers have to make money somehow
The funding of FOSS is often problematic and a legitimate issue
But is this really a debate about developer funding?
Is this about funding development or investor expectations?
[MongoDB] management said customers were interested in utilizing features across all of the large, multiple public cloud providers. In addition to preventing customer lock-in, management explained that many customers wanted to take advantage of the different unique features each large cloud company provides. In that respect, MongoDB's "cloud-neutral" positioning continues to be an advantage, even as it competes with the very same cloud companies that have their own database offerings.
Did their management just say an advantage of MongoDB is the exact thing they want to prevent with their new license?
Is there a threat to Open Source?
Open Source is doing fine
Evil Big Cloud
This debate tries to ride upon the general unpopularity of large corporations, we should reject that framing, because it doesn't matter
Whether you like Google or Amazon is irrelevant for the discussion about the definition of "Open Source"
Conclusions
We should demand clarity and reject confusion about the terms "Free Software" and "Open Source"
Companies can decide to be no longer part of the FOSS community, but they can't have it both ways
We should talk about better funding options for FOSS
"Not publishing FOSS any more" is not a funding option for FOSS
Free and Open Source Software is doing fine
If your business is not doing fine that's not the problem of the FOSS community