An analogy about German jam labeling laws illustrates how strict, historical definitions like those from the Open Source Initiative can conflict with common usage.
Releasing a project like GitButler with a non-OSI compliant license, such as the Functional Source License, can lead to community backlash over the use of the term "open source".
The free software movement, led by figures like Richard Stallman with the GPL, emerged in the 1980s as a reaction to companies closing the source code that was previously shipped with hardware.
The term "open source" was coined in the late 90s to provide a pragmatic, business-friendly alternative to the politically charged "free software" movement, spurred by Netscape open sourcing its browser.
Git and GitHub revolutionized open source by unifying the workflows for proprietary and public code, making it easy for companies to release and contribute to projects, leading to the era of corporate-driven open source.
Modern open source faces a sustainability crisis, highlighted by the XZ vulnerability, where critical projects rely on thankless, underfunded maintainers who are prone to burnout.
Companies like HashiCorp and Redis are adopting non-OSI, source-available licenses with non-compete clauses to protect their investment from large cloud providers who might otherwise offer their work as a competing service.
The term "Fair Source" is proposed for projects with source-available, non-compete licenses, encouraging companies to adopt this model and support maintainers through initiatives like the OSS Pledge.
37:05Scott Chacon
42:13Kyle Daigle
25:00Peter Zaitsev
27:53Maxim Fateev, Jo Franchetti, Ankit Patel & Ivan Burazin
24:51Kevin & Roxana Crisan
59:18Stormy Peters
25:28Joseph Katsioloudes
33:17Scott Chacon
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.
Wolters Kluwer
Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands
SMG Swiss Marketplace Group
Sachseln, Switzerland
