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Apr 2024
32m 28s

Open Source and Business…sigh

Massive Studios
About this episode

Every few years we have to be reminded that open source isn’t a business model. Let’s talk about the business dynamics that everyone seems to keep forgetting.  

SHOW: 816

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:  The Cloudcast #816

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

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SHOW NOTES:

OPEN SOURCE IS A LICENSE, NOT A BUSINESS MODEL

  • There are rules around software licenses (e.g. Apache, GPL, etc.)
  • There are no rules about how people feel about software, creators or maintainers

FREE, FREE TIERS, EXTENSIONS, CLONES

  • Red Flags: Writes most of the code, took VC funding (multiple rounds)
  • Green flags: Lots of diverse (companies) contributors
  • Yellow flags:  Foundation owns copyright
  • “There’s the business side and there’s the hippie side of OSS”
  • “I have endless ambitions”
  • “I didn’t build a forever entity”
  • “When is the rug pull going to happen?”
  • If a company takes VC funding, is open source anything more than a marketing vehicle?
  • “Docker figured it out and now they are doing like $100M”. Did they? 
  • When is OSS personal, and when is it a company?
  • Will there never be another Red Hat, or just not another Linux?
  • How much is too much when determining if a company should give things away for free?


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