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So basically big companies will no longer have any reason to work on open source projects anymore if they can't fund them with "unrelated services?" You can hea

So basically big companies will no longer have any reason to work on open source projects anymore if they can't fund them with "unrelated services?" You can head over to github, clone the AOSP tree, and do whatever the heck you want with it. Separately, Google has developed the Play ecosystem, and several of its own apps for Android. If you want you phone to have that stuff, you tell Google and you join the Open Handset Alliance or whatever its called now. If you don't, you start from AOSP (as does Amazon, for example) and don't give Google the time of day. So they give away a massive boost to anyone who wants to make a mobile device, and somehow that's a bad thing?

rayiner 8y ago
Possibly true. But the direct exchange of money for a product or service creates a salutory incentive structure. And unfortunately, the rise of open source has been associated with the rise of indirect monetization models that aren't as beneficial, especially in the consumer space.
- nthot 8y ago
  Painting this as an unintended consequence of open source is really interesting. The rise of free open source alternatives to proprietary products has encouraged companies to provide products free, but these companies aren't going to be motivated to provide these products without some avenue for profit.