Re:AWS forked my project and launched it as its own service
by cacois on Friday October 16, 2020 @05:04PM
(#24805045)
Think of it this way - often when people become extremely wealthy, they turn to philanthropy. Because they want to give back. If someone becomes ridiculously wealthy and gives nothing back, we as a society tend to think poorly of them. Why? Because they are extremely fortunate and highly successful - and they could so easily help others without any negative impact to themselves. That ease makes us unhappy with them _not_ giving back. Because in their particular circumstance, we generally consider it _right_ to use their resources help others. Not required, but right.
Same thing with a company like Amazon. They are enormously wealthy. So we look poorly on them when they don't give back to those bringing them even more wealth. Because they easily could. Because it wouldn't hurt them at all. Because it is right.
That’s the whole point of the license. You’re putting code out there for others to use however they want.
This isn’t even about legal requirement vs intent. If you put up a super permissive license, you are making the intent very clear that people can do whatever they want with it.
The lack of obligation, both legal and societal, of using open source software is what makes it so useful and lets the whole ecosystem flourish.
If your in open source for glory and getting monetary or promotional credit for your work, you’re doing it for the wrong reason.