Apache and the future of open-source licensing | The Open Road – CNET News
Apache and the future of open-source licensing | The Open Road – CNET News
Matt Asay has some interesting thoughts on licensing and why us open source devs contribute. Interestingly enough, for me, I started contributing because I simply needed some changes in Lucene, and not for vanity, for the code I was working on at CNLP. Over time, this evolved into a business opportunity and, admittedaly, some vanity, as more and more people were asking me to help them with their implementations. At that point, I could see how an individual could earn a living doing Open Source, but didn’t quite see how a business could, other than selling services.
Then, as I got involved more in the ASF, my role became more nuanced. On the one hand, the business opportunities (and vanity, I suppose) were multiplying, on the other hand, I am a stakeholder in the ASF and very much believe in what it offers, as I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without the vision the founders set out 10 years ago (even if they can’t sing!)
In the end, I feel the Apache license gives me the right to choose where my code goes and puts the least restrictions on me, whereas GPL forces me to give it away. I keep plenty of code to myself (or my employer does/has) and I give plenty away. As a developer, that’s the right I want to have. For intellectual property, that, I believe, is what all content creators want: the right to choose how their work is distributed.
