Re:Funds for Open Source
by alannallama on Thursday March 25, 2021 @04:55PM
(#26585249)
Open Collective team member here. All the money involved in this initiative goes to Open Source Collective 501(c)(6). As a non-profit, all revenues are reinvested back into the mission of building health and sustainability in the open source ecosystem. We're not really "raking in the big money" but if we do, it will all go toward supporting open source.
FWIW I agree with you about copyleft licenses, philosophically. But we've taken the approach of being very pragmatic when it comes to working with corporate sponsors, and we can't make them accept certain licenses, etc. Our approach is to build up funding for open source projects so they can be stronger and healthier and have the power to advocate for what they want to see in their ecosystem.
> In the open source world, formal contracts and partnership agreements don't happen the way they do in the business world.
In a way what OpenCollective offers here is much needed. The OSS world has a really hard time to get funded, while at the same time big tech is thriving upon their works.
Another pain point not mentioned in the article is that big tech corporate world also doesn't like FOSS (copyleft) licenses. They favor permissive licenses, as this is what their empires are built upon.
I fear this funding initiative will favor OSS to the detriment of FOSS. I also feel that OpenCollective - which I found aligned with FOSS principles at the start, hence really attractive - is moving towards raking in the big money now.