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> Don't give your work away if you don't want people to use it. This about sums it up. But at the same time, many people feel like there should be another way

> Don't give your work away if you don't want people to use it. This about sums it up. But at the same time, many people feel like there should be another way to do things. To create code, libraries, frameworks or whatever else that many can benefit from, but there also be some sort of a financial gain to make it sustainable, rather than just a hobby. Recognition is nice, but recognition won't pay your bills or put food on the table (it may help indirectly by opening up new opportunities, but that's a different conversation). That's why some are looking in the direction of software that's free for non-profits or non-commercial usage, but requires a license to use commercially, yet that's not as easy as one might believe (bureaucracy and legal aspects), as opposed to ticking a checkbox in GitHub or wherever that would say "i'd like to charge money for someone using this commercially" and filling out some other data. There's probably a company or two out there to make software licensing easier for developers, though. That said, then we are no longer really talking about "open source" anymore, since we're coming up with limitations of who can or can't use the code and for what, that's more like just source available at that point. That's why licenses like Server Side Public License (SSPL) aren't commonly recognized as open source licenses. So, in summary: - if your goal is money (now or in the near future) then NO, open source is not worth it (at least if you expect a degree of certainty) - if that's not a concern (you have a job) or maybe it's something you just do out of passion or for the experience, then YES, it's probably worth it

teddyh 5y ago
To summarize: What some people are looking for is a business model. Free software is not a business model. Free software is an ethical stance, around which any number of business models may conceivably be constructed.
- KronisLV 5y ago
  > Free software is an ethical stance, around which any number of business models may conceivably be constructed. Genuine question: where are they? Why do we get articles like the one in this thread, or maybe others like it, for example https://christine.website/blog/open-source-broken-2021-12-11 https://christine.website/blog/open-source-broken-2021-12-11 and https://staltz.com/software-below-the-poverty-line.html https://staltz.com/software-below-the-poverty-line.html Are we not just there yet, as an industry? Or are there models that work really nicely, but just haven't gotten popular enough?
  - robertlagrant 5y ago
    So, for example, the arts have gone in the opposite direction. Play my recording of my song anywhere and you need to pay me. Make a song too similar to mine and pay me. Put my song in the background of your movie and pay me whenever the movie is on, (even if the TV was on mute or the viewer can't hear). Royalties might be the opposite to open source ethically, but they'll let some developers get rich, for sure.
    - gatonegro 5y ago
      The key difference here is that for, say, a piece of music, you can very easily point to someone as the creator of said piece. Or a group of people, or a record label, or whoever owns the rights to it. How do you handle royalties for a FOSS project where dozens, or even hundreds of people have contributed various amounts of code over the years?
      - zozbot234 5y ago
        > How do you handle royalties for a FOSS project where dozens, or even hundreds of people have contributed various amounts of code over the years? Look, you just mint a NFT for it. Easy peasy. If you can do it for Bored Gorillas or whatever, you can do it for a software release.
      - lupire 5y ago
        You don't. Royalties are a proprietary model, not an open source model.
        gatonegro 5y ago
        I understand that, I was just pointing out a practical issue with the royalties model if it were to be applied to an open source project.
  - teddyh 5y ago
    Every company which is contributing to free software, in any form, is a free software business model. A business model does not necessarily need to be defined by its ethical stances; an industrial manufacturer might decide that for ethical reasons they will not use child labor, or use CFCs in their products. But simply saying “I will be ethical” will not lead to a business model¹. I.e. to start with free software and from there try to find a business model will only lead you to a few well-known examples; to wit: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html However, any business model which is otherwise ethical and supports free software in some capacity is a free software business model. 1. https://ozyandmillie.org/archives/comic/ozy-and-millie-96 https://ozyandmillie.org/archives/comic/ozy-and-millie-96
HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
Isn't this already a solved problem, though? I have tools that are "free for non-commercial use, pay $xxx for commercial use." Sure it's an honor system (until you need support!), but so is any other licensing method.

teddyh 5y ago

To summarize: What some people are looking for is a business model. Free software is not a business model. Free software is an ethical stance, around which any number of business models may conceivably be constructed.

KronisLV 5y ago
> Free software is an ethical stance, around which any number of business models may conceivably be constructed. Genuine question: where are they? Why do we get articles like the one in this thread, or maybe others like it, for example https://christine.website/blog/open-source-broken-2021-12-11 https://christine.website/blog/open-source-broken-2021-12-11 and https://staltz.com/software-below-the-poverty-line.html https://staltz.com/software-below-the-poverty-line.html Are we not just there yet, as an industry? Or are there models that work really nicely, but just haven't gotten popular enough?
- robertlagrant 5y ago
  So, for example, the arts have gone in the opposite direction. Play my recording of my song anywhere and you need to pay me. Make a song too similar to mine and pay me. Put my song in the background of your movie and pay me whenever the movie is on, (even if the TV was on mute or the viewer can't hear). Royalties might be the opposite to open source ethically, but they'll let some developers get rich, for sure.
  - gatonegro 5y ago
    The key difference here is that for, say, a piece of music, you can very easily point to someone as the creator of said piece. Or a group of people, or a record label, or whoever owns the rights to it. How do you handle royalties for a FOSS project where dozens, or even hundreds of people have contributed various amounts of code over the years?
    - zozbot234 5y ago
      > How do you handle royalties for a FOSS project where dozens, or even hundreds of people have contributed various amounts of code over the years? Look, you just mint a NFT for it. Easy peasy. If you can do it for Bored Gorillas or whatever, you can do it for a software release.
    - lupire 5y ago
      You don't. Royalties are a proprietary model, not an open source model.
      - gatonegro 5y ago
        I understand that, I was just pointing out a practical issue with the royalties model if it were to be applied to an open source project.
- teddyh 5y ago
  Every company which is contributing to free software, in any form, is a free software business model. A business model does not necessarily need to be defined by its ethical stances; an industrial manufacturer might decide that for ethical reasons they will not use child labor, or use CFCs in their products. But simply saying “I will be ethical” will not lead to a business model¹. I.e. to start with free software and from there try to find a business model will only lead you to a few well-known examples; to wit: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html However, any business model which is otherwise ethical and supports free software in some capacity is a free software business model. 1. https://ozyandmillie.org/archives/comic/ozy-and-millie-96 https://ozyandmillie.org/archives/comic/ozy-and-millie-96

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago

Isn't this already a solved problem, though? I have tools that are "free for non-commercial use, pay $xxx for commercial use." Sure it's an honor system (until you need support!), but so is any other licensing method.