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My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

goauthentik.io

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Re: My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

#41

Post by HWR_14 »

weare138 wrote: post #30

I'm not sure what the overall point here is. The headline and article are framed in a way that makes it seem switching from GPLv3 was the catalyst for increased profitability but this is never clarified or quantified: Two years later, Sid at Open Core Ventures (OCV) contacted me about creating a company, building on the features and functionality of authentik. It was a dream opportunity: work full time on my hobby pr…

It sounds like he was paid, and gets to work on his app. It may not be maximizing the value, but it seems to be similar to accepting a job at a company. He has steady income instead of long term rights.

Perfectly reasonable choice. So would putting a second license for paying customers as an available choice.

Re: My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

#42

Post by dahdum »

trane_project wrote: post #32
freedomben wrote: post #16

Is GPL vs. MIT even relevant in this case? GPL only requires providing sources with the distributed binary, but for server-side code you don't distribute the binary so don't have to publish sources. The whole point behind the AGPL is to close this loophole. Further I don't think the change to GPL even fixed the author's original concern of something like AWS taking it and standing up a service on it. The GPL wouldn't…

The whole thing about how GPL propagates to unrelated works that happen to use a GPL licensed software is a misunderstanding. One that the FSF foundation is happy to propagate, but not one that would hold in court. The concept of derived work in copyright law has nothing to do with how the binaries are linked together nor is an entire work derived from a GPL library just because they happen to call it at one point. L…

I don’t see definitive statements in that article. It’s a lawyer stating opinion, using qualifiers like “in most cases” and “I would argue”. Most concerning is:

> This is a complex topic that courts and lawyers disagree on

I would argue, in most cases, the benefits aren’t worth the risk, nor the legal fees spent to ascertain and manage that risk.

Re: My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

#43

Post by fancyfredbot »

ryukafalz wrote: post #39
fancyfredbot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Copyleft doesn't seem to cause businesses to give more back, but does seem to prevent them from benefiting from the community, which is a shame.

How many drivers are available as FOSS in the Linux kernel? Now how many drivers for the same hardware are available as FOSS for Windows? Do you think so many of those Linux drivers would have their code available if the kernel weren't copyleft licensed?

I wasn't thinking of hardware vendors, but you are right that here the copyleft license works well. The reason I think is that in this case the companies are making their money from selling hardware not drivers.

Re: My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

#44

Post by 38 »

version_five wrote: post #15
38 wrote: post #5

I have switched a couple of my more popular projects from OSL: https://opensource.org/license/osl-3-0-php to non commercial: https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0 people always howl that "its no longer open source", and maybe that's true. but the source code is still on GitHub as its always been, and you can still do whatever you want with it, as long as its not for commercial purpose. I offer a co…

> people always howl that "its no longer open source" That's a legit complaint, particularly if someone contributed to it, gave feedback, was part of the user community, depended on it etc and would have chosen differently it they knew it wasn't open source. You changed the terms from "everyone can profit from this" to "only I can profit from this" which is a pretty big change. It's your right, but it shouldn't be su…

all previous versions still have the open source license, so people can fork if they find it so distasteful.

> only I can profit from this

no, thats not true. nothing is stopping anyone from buying a commercial license from me, and then making money from the software after that.

Re: My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

#45

Post by 38 »

distcs wrote: post #20
38 wrote: post #5

I have switched a couple of my more popular projects from OSL: https://opensource.org/license/osl-3-0-php to non commercial: https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0 people always howl that "its no longer open source", and maybe that's true. but the source code is still on GitHub as its always been, and you can still do whatever you want with it, as long as its not for commercial purpose. I offer a co…

Even if we ignore the open source purists, restricting commercial usage still violates the popular libre software guidelines like FSD and DFSG: * https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#fs-definition - FSD * https://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines - DFSG It violates freedom 0 of FSD! The problem with that is that a lot of non-profit organizations that do use libre software cannot use your software be…

> It violates freedom 0 of FSD!

yes, I understand that. the "noncommercial" in the license URL is a pretty big sign that "any purpose" is not allowed.

> The problem with that is that a lot of non-profit organizations that do use libre software cannot use your software because it violates one of the fundamental requirements of libre software guidelines

this doesn't make logical sense. non-profits are not commercial, so they are allowed usage, both in the license terms and by me now, saying explicitly, that I am allowing that usage of my software. if THEY CHOOSE to restrict themselves by requiring "pure" open source software only, thats THEIR fault, not mine.

Re: My hobby became my job, 50% extra pay, just needed to let go of GPLv3

#46

Post by distcs »

38 wrote: post #45
distcs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if we ignore the open source purists, restricting commercial usage still violates the popular libre software guidelines like FSD and DFSG: * https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#fs-definition - FSD * https://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines - DFSG It violates freedom 0 of FSD! The problem with that is that a lot of non-profit organizations that do use libre software cannot use your software be…

> It violates freedom 0 of FSD! yes, I understand that. the "noncommercial" in the license URL is a pretty big sign that "any purpose" is not allowed. > The problem with that is that a lot of non-profit organizations that do use libre software cannot use your software because it violates one of the fundamental requirements of libre software guidelines this doesn't make logical sense. non-profits are not commercial, s…

> if THEY CHOOSE to restrict themselves by requiring "pure" open source software only, thats THEIR fault, not mine.

It is nobody's fault. Just like nobody can force you to choose a "pure" open source license, nobody can force them to use your software. Just like you have the prerogative to choose whatever license you want, they have the prerogative to choose "pure" libre software. It's all fair and well and nobody is at fault for exercising their choices.

Most of the time though, the non-profits go for "pure" libre software because their legal team has already provided a blanket approval for all libre licenses. So it is less hassle for them to choose libre software available under these licenses. Choosing a noncommercial license would be more procedural hassle for them in terms of reviews, approvals, etc. Yeah it may sound stupid to not use otherwise perfectly good software due to a legal and procedural technicality, but I'm just saying how things are and not necessarily how things should be.

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