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He's extremely right. I like RethinkDB, but it's not going to fail because of accidental success attracting parasitic litigious organisms in the post-corporate

He's extremely right. I like RethinkDB, but it's not going to fail because of accidental success attracting parasitic litigious organisms in the post-corporate open-source phase. It's going to fail because the only people who know the code well enough to work on it aren't working on it anymore. I like RethinkDB a lot, but A) I have no time to contribute and B) my ability to use and enjoy databases does not automatically confer the ability to write them. I think most people who liked RethinkDB are in a similar boat to me. I'd love to see this project take off. But I didn't have money or time for it before and I still don't. I don't have those things for Postgres either but it doesn't seem to need them as direly.

jankotek 10y ago
I disagree. If code would be Apache licensed, I personally would consider to start new company around it. Maybe it would not 'scale', but it would be enough to pay my bills.
- mrkurt 10y ago
  This isn't an asshole question, I'm actually curious: what could you do with the Apache license that you can't do with the agpl?
  - jankotek 10y ago
    - Consulting is much harder with AGPL. It is pain to ship products with this license - No way to operate under Apache foundation or other umbrella - AGPL is simply banned in many corporations - No way to create 'enterprise' proprietary version - No way to charge for extended customer support (patches only for subscribers after free support runs out).
    - michaelmrose 10y ago
      Couldn't you as the author offer any of the above by dual licensing it?
- fusiongyro 10y ago
  Why would it work for you if it didn't work for them? Genuinely asking.
  - jankotek 10y ago
    Much lower cost. No need to create 100x return for investors.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> I like RethinkDB, but it's not going to fail because of accidental success attracting parasitic litigious organisms in the post-corporate open-source phase Legal risk is basically a tax -- it is a cost that is born by the end-user but which does not go to the supplier. A selective tax on one product as opposed to alternatives absolutely can kill it.
- fusiongyro 10y ago
  You could die of a meteorite landing on your head, but you won't. You're probably going to die of a car crash, heart disease, stroke or cancer. Open-RethinkDB is not going to fail because of AGPL, IP issues or litigation. It's going fail because of lack of users, developers, and growth. And that's sad. But it isn't going to fail for political or legal reasons.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > Open-RethinkDB is not going to fail because of AGPL, IP issues or litigation. It's going fail because of lack of users, developers, and growth. AGPL (which is an IP issue and is a source of perceived risk of litigation) is a contributor to lack of users, which is a contributor to lack of developers. You are treating deeply linked issues as if they were orthogonal.
    - fusiongyro 10y ago
      No, I'm saying that what you're preoccupied with is not ultimately the biggest problem. And I don't think they are as deeply linked as you do. That's fine though; ultimately, you will be able to blame RethinkDB's death on this non-problem and you'll have a clean conscience. It's easier to point to this as the cause of death than the much harder problem of getting people interested in the product in the state it's currently in. I think this is like blaming a cancer death on a lack of handwashing. Sure, washing your hands is important. But it won't cure cancer.
      - dragonwriter 10y ago

jankotek 10y ago

I disagree. If code would be Apache licensed, I personally would consider to start new company around it. Maybe it would not 'scale', but it would be enough to pay my bills.

mrkurt 10y ago
This isn't an asshole question, I'm actually curious: what could you do with the Apache license that you can't do with the agpl?
- jankotek 10y ago
  - Consulting is much harder with AGPL. It is pain to ship products with this license - No way to operate under Apache foundation or other umbrella - AGPL is simply banned in many corporations - No way to create 'enterprise' proprietary version - No way to charge for extended customer support (patches only for subscribers after free support runs out).
  - michaelmrose 10y ago
    Couldn't you as the author offer any of the above by dual licensing it?
fusiongyro 10y ago
Why would it work for you if it didn't work for them? Genuinely asking.
- jankotek 10y ago
  Much lower cost. No need to create 100x return for investors.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> I like RethinkDB, but it's not going to fail because of accidental success attracting parasitic litigious organisms in the post-corporate open-source phase Legal risk is basically a tax -- it is a cost that is born by the end-user but which does not go to the supplier. A selective tax on one product as opposed to alternatives absolutely can kill it.

fusiongyro 10y ago
You could die of a meteorite landing on your head, but you won't. You're probably going to die of a car crash, heart disease, stroke or cancer. Open-RethinkDB is not going to fail because of AGPL, IP issues or litigation. It's going fail because of lack of users, developers, and growth. And that's sad. But it isn't going to fail for political or legal reasons.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > Open-RethinkDB is not going to fail because of AGPL, IP issues or litigation. It's going fail because of lack of users, developers, and growth. AGPL (which is an IP issue and is a source of perceived risk of litigation) is a contributor to lack of users, which is a contributor to lack of developers. You are treating deeply linked issues as if they were orthogonal.
  - fusiongyro 10y ago
    No, I'm saying that what you're preoccupied with is not ultimately the biggest problem. And I don't think they are as deeply linked as you do. That's fine though; ultimately, you will be able to blame RethinkDB's death on this non-problem and you'll have a clean conscience. It's easier to point to this as the cause of death than the much harder problem of getting people interested in the product in the state it's currently in. I think this is like blaming a cancer death on a lack of handwashing. Sure, washing your hands is important. But it won't cure cancer.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago