The reason the ValKey fork happened so fast is that AWS was already sponsoring developers for the open source redis project.
Re:Redis is open source again
by SweetLlamaMyth on Thursday May 01, 2025 @10:10PM
(#43865468)
And not merely "some developers", but a member of the Redis Core Team: https://redis.io/blog/redis-core-team-update/
Yeah, the whole "they give nothing back" line might be the worst part of the PR around these changes. It's obvious to anyone familiar with the ecosystem that it's not true, which damages the credibility of Redis's argument in the eyes of the people who matter most.
I think it's more "they are no longer piggybacking off our work for free".
I also think what they actually wanted was that plus "...and they paid us".