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There are two broad spirits of open-source license: copyleft and corporate charity. Copyleft licenses like the GPL encourage those using the code to contribute
by SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago
There are two broad spirits of open-source license: copyleft and corporate charity.
Copyleft licenses like the GPL encourage those using the code to contribute back to the open-source community.
Charity licenses like the BSD or Apache license are used by developers who want to work for exposure. They only encourage giving credit to the original developers, and implicitly allow closing the source. Letting people do that is the whole spirit of these licenses. People who don't want to be making charitable donations to megacorps shouldn't use charity licenses.
- kps 6y agoNot necessarily. The project I'm currently working on was initiated by a group of mostly-mega corps, staffed with dozens of full-time developers, and Apache licensed — all out of rational self-interest.
- SAI_Peregrinus 6y agoJust because megacorps sometimes release code under permissive licenses doesn't invalidate my point that permissive licenses are a way to make a charitable donation out of your work. Megacorps also make donations to charities. Charitable donations can be made out of rational self-interest!