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Open source software is something that has no meaningfully similar parallel in any other industry, and that has created untold billions (trillions?) of value ac
by ketzo 6y ago
Open source software is something that has no meaningfully similar parallel in any other industry, and that has created untold billions (trillions?) of value across the world while also allowing literally anyone to carve out a piece of that value.
That is special. That is wonderful. It is a place for idealism. And honestly, it's worth getting angry about when people (and companies) don't respect it and improve upon it.
- new_realist 6y agoPatents and copyright are the parallels in other industries, although they compensate inventors more. Eventually it all goes into the public domain.
- phreack 6y agoThat 'eventually' means several lifetimes in practice so it's effectively non-existant.
- ketzo 6y agoBut GE isn't paying engineers to put out new lightbulb filament designs to the public (and other companies). Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and many, many other companies are literally building tools for their competitors. That's so outside the realm of possibility in any other industry that a copyright lawyer (or executive) in any heavily-patented field would laugh you out of their office for suggesting something like that.
- hoopleheaded 6y agoThis happens all the time across all sorts of industries. Where do you think things like ASTM standards come from? Companies pay people to participate in developing open standards that benefit themselves as well as their competitors.
- kortilla 6y agoIt’s open source, if you’re mad a company used the software in a way you don’t like, you’re not really getting it.
- brainless 6y agoYou are either the one who was in the open source movement, in which case I will hold my silence. Else I will say you do not know that open source was started when on-premise was a thing. How do you know how open source would have started now in the era of cloud?
- kortilla 6y agoI have worked on lots of open source software with the full intent of just putting the code out there to allow others to use as they see fit. Even if one person uses it to save them or their business time, it’s achieved its goal. If other people contribute back, great. If I get credit, great. But those are not the motivations when you put up something like a BSD license. Licenses mean things so you need to choose a restrictive license if you get your feelings hurt when people use your software in a way you don’t like.
- lscotte 6y agoExactly. Don't use an open ended license and then complain about it. If you want to restrict use, then license it appropriately. Very simple and obvious.
- cacois 6y agoExactly. Don't complain about someone being a jerk to you if you didn't get a restraining order against them. If you want to restrict them interacting with you, get a restraining order. Very simple and obvious.
- travisjungroth 6y agoYou’re saying that people should lean entirely on the law. It’s pretty reasonable to have some set of behaviors that you’re willing to legally allow but also will complain about. It’s not like you can carve these things out perfectly. You’re going to either be over-permissive and have some stuff you don’t want happen, or be under-permissive and restrict behaviors you’re fine with. To say “if you want to restrict use, then license appropriately” is to push heavily towards everyone using more restrictive licenses.