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I wonder if we will eventually see open source projects getting a fair cut from cloud vendors. For example, with AWS both their cache offerings are built on ope

by tybit 9y ago

I wonder if we will eventually see open source projects getting a fair cut from cloud vendors. For example, with AWS both their cache offerings are built on open source (redis and memcached), many of their DB offerings (Aurora and RDS versions of MySQL and Postgres) etc. It seems like giving a meager cut back to these companies could go a long way, rather than forcing them to compete with added features on their own SaaS offerings. I wonder if this could be done via licensing, i.e a commercial license that only kicks in when you offer the project as a service. Does anyone know of anything being done like this?

chimeracoder 9y ago
> I wonder if this could be done via licensing, i.e a commercial license that only kicks in when you offer the project as a service. The AGPL can be used this way. The project is free and open source, but people wanting to sell it as a service will pay for a commercial license instead of using the AGPL.
- TAForObvReasons 9y ago
  People understand what the AGPL requires. And for projects where there are alternatives with other license terms, like MIT or Apache2, the alternatives will be used. Adoption is stymied
- justincormack 9y ago
  Only if they want to modify it and not give back. If people want to use the code as is AGPL doesn't really help.
  - lewisl9029 9y ago
    And from the outside, it's nigh impossible to know if the source code for a hosted open-source product has been modified or not, unless they make it blatantly obvious, which makes the AGPL extremely difficult to enforce. In addition, a lot of great hosted open-source products are designed to be extensible through plugin architectures so that its functionality can be extended through code that lives outside of the core codebase, and AGPL can introduce a perverse incentive to close off the product for extension to the detriment of the quality of the code base and the experience of end-users, in the name of not circumventing the protections provided by AGPL. That said, AGPL is still my go-to license to reach for when I build open-source products that can be self-hosted, but it's by no means a silver bullet, even for its intended purpose.
nanomonkey 9y ago
License Zero [https://licensezero.com https://licensezero.com] is working on a means of doing this. I believe they are starting with NPM modules first.
- SteveNuts 9y ago
  > starting with NPM modules first. Creators of left-pad about to become millionaires off the backs of lazy devs everywhere.

by tybit 9y ago

chimeracoder 9y ago

> I wonder if this could be done via licensing, i.e a commercial license that only kicks in when you offer the project as a service. The AGPL can be used this way. The project is free and open source, but people wanting to sell it as a service will pay for a commercial license instead of using the AGPL.

TAForObvReasons 9y ago
People understand what the AGPL requires. And for projects where there are alternatives with other license terms, like MIT or Apache2, the alternatives will be used. Adoption is stymied
justincormack 9y ago
Only if they want to modify it and not give back. If people want to use the code as is AGPL doesn't really help.
- lewisl9029 9y ago
  And from the outside, it's nigh impossible to know if the source code for a hosted open-source product has been modified or not, unless they make it blatantly obvious, which makes the AGPL extremely difficult to enforce. In addition, a lot of great hosted open-source products are designed to be extensible through plugin architectures so that its functionality can be extended through code that lives outside of the core codebase, and AGPL can introduce a perverse incentive to close off the product for extension to the detriment of the quality of the code base and the experience of end-users, in the name of not circumventing the protections provided by AGPL. That said, AGPL is still my go-to license to reach for when I build open-source products that can be self-hosted, but it's by no means a silver bullet, even for its intended purpose.

nanomonkey 9y ago

License Zero [https://licensezero.com https://licensezero.com] is working on a means of doing this. I believe they are starting with NPM modules first.

SteveNuts 9y ago
> starting with NPM modules first. Creators of left-pad about to become millionaires off the backs of lazy devs everywhere.