I would understand if Canonical want a new cow to milk, but why are developers even agreeing to this? Are they out of their minds?? Do they actually want companies to steal their code? Or is this some reverse-uno move I don’t see yet? I cannot fathom any FOSS project not using the AGPL anymore. It’s like they’re painting their faces with “here, take my stuff and don’t contribute anything back, that’s totally fine”
Ah, OK. No, of course not. I was thinking more about hobby developers.
But somebody else already pointed it out: MIT makes a project more attractive for investors. Follow the $£€
If it is solely for investors, then I understand. However I’m saddened to think that altruism in software has gone to the gutter
Is giving away your software in a way that doesn’t use a copyleft license, not altruistic? Seems like a pretty narrow definition.
Altruism towards shareholders, not the open-source community
And they are mutually exclusive, in your eyes?
In this case, yes. If you were altruistic toward the community, shareholders could instruct devs to use it anyway so it works out for both groups. Doesn’t work the other way around
How does a corporation using it obstruct independent developers from using it under the same license? I don’t see a compelling case for them being mutually exclusive
Because most corporations do not contribute their changes back if it’s MIT/BSD licensed
Oh so you’re saying the companies are not altruistic? I’d agree. I thought you were saying that the people making the FOSS were not being altruistic.
Yeah me too but it’s been a long time coming. Ubuntu started it decades ago by replacing the altruism* with a warm and fuzzy “sense of community” while exploiting the enthusiasm of largely unpaid coders, Google certainly has done this for a long while, and by now it’s just how you do your basic FOSS Kickstarter campaign.
All that really brings is “more customers”, and doG knows that’s not what the whole of GNU/Linux needs.
Over the years I have developed a sense for how projects present themselves before choosing one that suits my needs. Because the sane ones, both feet on the ground types, that do GPL and accept donations (or sometimes offer paid support), those still exist, old and new.
* a form of altruism btw that does not exclude egoism!
I think many hobby developers also see “hobby” developing as part of their career, so they would happily try and have their hobby align with future employment possibilities. Since companies avoid GPL, those devs will rather choose a license that is more attractive to those potential employers when they see their portfolio.