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It’s could be a great day for Open Source software. Maybe we need to adapt Open Source so that cloud providers who use it have to pay for continued development

It’s could be a great day for Open Source software. Maybe we need to adapt Open Source so that cloud providers who use it have to pay for continued development instead of just using it for free or putting a control panel on top of something and calling it their own product, but that’s the solution we came up with the first time proprietary software vendors started trying to lock the universe down into perpetual upgrade nonsense. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Open Source licenses with a fresh, sharp pencil and an eye towards making all these systems compete with cooperative, collective-interest development again. We definitely need to find models that don’t cut the investment valuation so hard, as that’s been a huge problem for the Open Source companies. Down markets and cost saving periods are when Open Source has seen massive adoption, as companies look to save money… Maybe I’m wrong but it’s been on my mind a lot lately.

doctorwho42 3y ago
Be the change you want to see :) As someone who uses software but rarely writes anything more than automation scripts, I personally look for self-hosting and community minded software companies to have my company throw money at (cause I am high enough to influence purchasing decisions for my group). Favorite software that a share with everyone who mentions workflow diagrams is draw.io, https://www.drawio.com/about https://www.drawio.com/about , let's you have a local copy - format is open source - and it just works how my engineering mind wants it to work
natbennett 3y ago
This is already the case in at least some large, boring businesses. Think like bank IT departments. There’s a whole generation of CTOs out there whose mentors got fucked over when Oracle pulled almost the exact move that Broadcom is pulling with VMware. Some of those people have billion dollar budgets and serious religion about OSS. I kinda don’t think it’d be possible to build a business like VMware’s today tbh. Certainly not after Broadcom is done with them. I think the thing to watch here is Tanzu. In theory most of the software under that brand has an off ramp onto some other vendor. It’d be painful (ripping OpsManager out of a TAS installation is no joke) but basically straightforward technically for the right person at the right price.
firebat45 3y ago
If all some companies are doing is throwing a flashy control panel onto FOSS and reselling it, perhaps FOSS should refocus a bit more on the user experience and provide the control panel themselves?

doctorwho42 3y ago

Be the change you want to see :) As someone who uses software but rarely writes anything more than automation scripts, I personally look for self-hosting and community minded software companies to have my company throw money at (cause I am high enough to influence purchasing decisions for my group). Favorite software that a share with everyone who mentions workflow diagrams is draw.io, https://www.drawio.com/about https://www.drawio.com/about , let's you have a local copy - format is open source - and it just works how my engineering mind wants it to work

natbennett 3y ago

This is already the case in at least some large, boring businesses. Think like bank IT departments. There’s a whole generation of CTOs out there whose mentors got fucked over when Oracle pulled almost the exact move that Broadcom is pulling with VMware. Some of those people have billion dollar budgets and serious religion about OSS. I kinda don’t think it’d be possible to build a business like VMware’s today tbh. Certainly not after Broadcom is done with them. I think the thing to watch here is Tanzu. In theory most of the software under that brand has an off ramp onto some other vendor. It’d be painful (ripping OpsManager out of a TAS installation is no joke) but basically straightforward technically for the right person at the right price.

firebat45 3y ago

If all some companies are doing is throwing a flashy control panel onto FOSS and reselling it, perhaps FOSS should refocus a bit more on the user experience and provide the control panel themselves?