Free and open source software projects are in transition

Re:Free and open source software projects are in transition by sytse on Monday July 31, 2023 @12:47PM (#36945351)

I assume you mean my VC fund, Open Core Ventures https://opencoreventures.com/ that starts new companies around existing open source projects.

We believe that open core companies need to give back and the open source code base should be better off because the open core company exists. Features that appeal most to individual contributors should be open source https://opencoreventures.com/blog/2023-01-open-core-standard...

The article mentions the recent move of RedHat to no longer share their source code. I think RedHat is a special case because they didn't have any proprietary code https://opencoreventures.com/blog/2023-04-red-hat-model-only...

Open core can be done right and wrong (not giving back, etc.), for some more thoughts on how to do it right please see https://opencoreventures.com/blog/2023-07-open-core-is-misun... We're figuring all of this our as we do it, suggestions are welcome.

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Re:Free and open source software projects are in transition by version_five on Monday July 31, 2023 @01:03PM (#36945613)

Thanks for replying. I hope you and others can find a way to make open source more sustainable without compromising the projects. Like I alluded to with my prisoners dilemma comment above, I think there is an optimum for everyone where companies try and make the open source project itself as valuable as possible instead of extracting value from it, and I'm happy hear about businesses that are legitimately trying to get us there.

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Re:Free and open source software projects are in transition by sytse on Monday July 31, 2023 @01:07PM (#36945666)

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it. One thing that is a big risk to the optimum is open core companies relicensing the open source code after the project becomes popular, to prevent this some of our companies are set up as public benefit companies https://opencoreventures.com/blog/2022-11-introducing-authen...

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Re:Free and open source software projects are in transition by dtaht on Monday July 31, 2023 @02:00PM (#36946430)

I lean towards a public benefit company for libreqos.io. I do wish more of the folk's business models we were actually helping (videoconferencing, gaming) would recognize their common interests with us, and chip in.

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