Re:OpenSSH not happy about lack of financial support from ve...
by lusis on Monday November 15, 2010 @11:52PM
(#1909087)
No offense to the OpenSSH team for such an awesome product but they chose the BSD license. The companies using it are under NO obligation to do squat for OpenBSD or the OpenSSH team. At least with a GPL license they could have gotten some code out of the deal.
Look, if you "do" open source regardless of license strictly for financial reasons, you'll be sorely disappointed. I'm as big a proponent of FOSS as anyone but you do it for the "love of the game".
Re:OpenSSH not happy about lack of financial support from ve...
by rlpb on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @12:04AM
(#1909119)
Businesses simply don't work that way. They must minimize their costs, otherwise their competitors will and they'll be out of business. It's impossible to justify donating money without good reason.
For small business owners the reason might be to donate out of the good of their hearts, but as soon as companies have more owners (ie. just about every large business) that reason disappears.
Other reasons that can still work are publicity, advertising, support contracts, future continuity, custom development etc. Unless the team can find a win-win solution that gives businesses something that they want that they can't otherwise get for free, this situation will continue.
Re:OpenSSH not happy about lack of financial support from ve...
by tedunangst on Monday November 15, 2010 @11:56PM
(#1909097)
Sigh, this isn't news, just another headline ripped from reddit. That text has been there for 20 months. Everybody got to have their say and pout the last time it was posted too.
Re:OpenSSH not happy about lack of financial support from ve...
by adambourg on Monday November 15, 2010 @11:29PM
(#1909037)
As much as I love Opensource, projects need to see the writing on the wall. Companies WILL profit off of your "free" project, you have two options.
1) Accept it and live with it
or
2) Change your licensing. Eg, if used to beyond personal use x y fee will be incurred for usage of the software. Free for personal, small business & non-profit but everyone else you better pay up.
Re:OpenSSH not happy about lack of financial support from ve...
by drivebyacct2 on Monday November 15, 2010 @11:36PM
(#1909052)
There's a difference between being frustrated with other companies making a profit, other companies not contributing and other companies getting a free ride.
Look, if you "do" open source regardless of license strictly for financial reasons, you'll be sorely disappointed. I'm as big a proponent of FOSS as anyone but you do it for the "love of the game".
For small business owners the reason might be to donate out of the good of their hearts, but as soon as companies have more owners (ie. just about every large business) that reason disappears.
Other reasons that can still work are publicity, advertising, support contracts, future continuity, custom development etc. Unless the team can find a win-win solution that gives businesses something that they want that they can't otherwise get for free, this situation will continue.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1906613
1) Accept it and live with it or 2) Change your licensing. Eg, if used to beyond personal use x y fee will be incurred for usage of the software. Free for personal, small business & non-profit but everyone else you better pay up.