3 ms·

Open Source is about licenses - Saas is making licenses obsolete. I think the story is more about universal cloud providers dominating specialized Library as a

by zby 7y ago

Open Source is about licenses - Saas is making licenses obsolete. I think the story is more about universal cloud providers dominating specialized Library as a Service providers (AWS dominating MongoDB) - the fact that the smaller providers publish their software as OpenSource is not relevant to the story, Amazon could publish their solution as OpenSource and still kill MongoDB. https://medium.com/hackernoon/aws-and-mongo-and-open-source-efcdcfb00514 https://medium.com/hackernoon/aws-and-mongo-and-open-source-... It all leads to very big and probably monopolistic cloud providers. To have more competition maybe what we need is mandating Open Source for Saas. We would also have some positive externalities in the form of code. Businesswise this would not be a big deal - exactly because selling the full package (i.e. cloud provided Saas) is dominating selling licenses. There are some technicalities to overcome - like how/where it should be published, what should be published (what is the source? what code is really used in Saas and what is internal code?) and when it should be published (immediately upon going live?). It can also be justified on the grounds of people should know what they are buying.

na85 7y ago
>Saas is making licenses obsolete Exactly this. I don't see the point of, say, the AGPL because it can't possibly be enforced: Short of a whistleblower or other leak, have no way of knowing if I'm connecting to AGPL software, or merely something that's API-compatible.
- _frkl 7y ago
  > >Saas is making licenses obsolete > Exactly this. I don't see the point of, say, the AGPL because it can't possibly be enforced: Short of a whistleblower or other leak, have no way of knowing if I'm connecting to AGPL software, or merely something that's API-compatible. I don't think that is people's main concern. As a developer I'd trust that most companies will honour the terms of a license, and if they don't it'd be unknowingly in most cases. It's too much of a legal risk, and not worth it in most cases. The issue is that GPL licensed software can be legally used in Saas use-cases because it needs to be distributed for the gpl to get triggered. In the case of AGPL that loophole is closed, but it's still possible to use AGPL software in a Saas product in the case where it is not used directly, basically. For example, in most cases it's legal to call an AGPL command-line application you modified from a backend service, without having to share your modifications. At least that is my understanding. Either way, my point is that the concern is about legal use-cases, not illegal ones.
- gpderetta 7y ago
  > Exactly this. I don't see the point of, say, the AGPL because it can't possibly be enforced: Short of a whistleblower or other leak, have no way of knowing if I'm connecting to AGPL software, or merely something that's API-compatible. but that's not specific of open source software. You could be running any closed source software without a license and nobody would know.

by zby 7y ago

na85 7y ago

>Saas is making licenses obsolete Exactly this. I don't see the point of, say, the AGPL because it can't possibly be enforced: Short of a whistleblower or other leak, have no way of knowing if I'm connecting to AGPL software, or merely something that's API-compatible.

_frkl 7y ago
> >Saas is making licenses obsolete > Exactly this. I don't see the point of, say, the AGPL because it can't possibly be enforced: Short of a whistleblower or other leak, have no way of knowing if I'm connecting to AGPL software, or merely something that's API-compatible. I don't think that is people's main concern. As a developer I'd trust that most companies will honour the terms of a license, and if they don't it'd be unknowingly in most cases. It's too much of a legal risk, and not worth it in most cases. The issue is that GPL licensed software can be legally used in Saas use-cases because it needs to be distributed for the gpl to get triggered. In the case of AGPL that loophole is closed, but it's still possible to use AGPL software in a Saas product in the case where it is not used directly, basically. For example, in most cases it's legal to call an AGPL command-line application you modified from a backend service, without having to share your modifications. At least that is my understanding. Either way, my point is that the concern is about legal use-cases, not illegal ones.
gpderetta 7y ago
> Exactly this. I don't see the point of, say, the AGPL because it can't possibly be enforced: Short of a whistleblower or other leak, have no way of knowing if I'm connecting to AGPL software, or merely something that's API-compatible. but that's not specific of open source software. You could be running any closed source software without a license and nobody would know.