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Re:MongoDB switches up its open source license by kstrauser on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @11:59AM (#18230414)
Did the MongoDB pay for their Linux distros? GCC? Git? How much are they paying to the FOSS projects they used to build their software for sale?
Re:MongoDB switches up its open source license by pas on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @03:48PM (#18232574)
They probably report issues back and so on.

How much AWS shares its profits with GCC, qemu, etc? Not at all besides the bare minimum that benefits them.

(And don't misunderstand me, I don't see Mongo as some kind of underdog here, but making big money from software is hard, even if - or exactly because - valuations - and funding - are in the sky.

And AWS is fundamentally a different kind of business than what open source usually is. It has a compounded networks effects / economies of scale effects. And on top of that it has a closed source management layer, but that is largely irrelevant, except for Mongo in this case.)

Re:MongoDB switches up its open source license by tannhaeuser on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:30PM (#18230703)
Fair point, but if you strip any money from product development, this implies you don't have a budget for further development and maintenance, except if you make it support-intensive. And for what gain? That very few cloud providers make more money and enslave customers into their walled garden? Cloud providers don't even need to provide QoS or support - they can just shrug and say "we're running an OS project as-is". If no money can come your way, then development and support is simply not sustainable.

The projects you mention: Linux+git development has good financial standing from companies who could be seen as going (or having gone) aggressively against commercial Unix from a business PoV. gcc thrived on freedom enthusiasm but has seen many, many patches from commercial vendors wanting their OS, CPU or whatever supported.

Re:MongoDB switches up its open source license by sah2ed on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @10:56PM (#18235773)
Intent matters.

Linux, gcc, git OSS projects are less concerned about capturing value from the economic activities enabled by them, which is why they were all set up as not-for-profit enterprises; the expectation is that donations will help cover their operating costs.

MongoDB on the other hand is a for-profit enterprise that took VC funding in the hope that they'd be able to cover their operating costs in the long term without donations.

The only way to do this is to capture some of the value offered by the NOSQL paradigm, but it appears that the cloud providers are beating them at that game, which is why they needed to change tactics, to guarantee their survival as a self-sustaining entity.

Re:MongoDB switches up its open source license by Akinato on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:56PM (#18230971)
That's a great perspective that I had not thought about before.
Re:MongoDB switches up its open source license by znpy on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:00PM (#18230426)
Fair point, actually.