Not if the goal is simply to create a competitive moat and dependent population before gouging them. I'm not saying Mongo will do that but I will be curious abo

Not if the goal is simply to create a competitive moat and dependent population before gouging them. I'm not saying Mongo will do that but I will be curious about how they interact with companies like MongoHQ and MongoLabs over time.(And hi Andrew!) While a bit extreme I might compare it to the agricultural aid practices of Western governments. In many cases they are fantastic, but often they also serve as a way to destroy blossoming agricultural economies. Without working domestic agriculture country development is often stunted (in the case of Mongo, work on a truly open source alternative). Separate digressions: I would also argue that much more of modern software is actually built on progress made by proprietary technology than people give credit, but that's a separate debate. I fully recognize the value of open source and it is my preference An interesting counterpoint to my agriculture argument would be free trade across borders debates. Much like the US can feed the world for nothing, manufacturing was done more effectively in one place (China for awhile) but I wouldn't argue for restrictions on how China behaved to get us dependent on them (though currency manipulation and workers rights might come up).