Here are the accompanying resources for The Future of Open Source Sustainability, as Seen Elsewhere, a talk presented at the Open Source Leadership Summit 2019.
It's my hope that communities can bring these questions to a broader sample, focusing on more equal gender representation and detecting significant differences across native languages and community of affinity (e.g., CNCF, Python, JS, etc.)
See the slides for additional commentary and my key takeaways and insights for the sample below or subscribe to RSS for new developments on this topic.
Feedback, questions and comments are very welcome! Get in touch.
- I believe open source has an "income equality" problem (agree/disagree on a scale of 5)
- I think "non-mainstream/new/postmodern" licenses (Commons Clause, SSPL, etc.) help or hurt the future of open source
- Mostly help
- Mostly hurt
- No impact
- Within the next 5 years, I think most open source software will be licensed...
- With an OSI-compliant license
- With a copyleft license
- With a non-copyleft license
- With new licenses that don't exist yet
- Not sure
- I think "open source foundations" play a critical role in the future of open source (agree/disagree on a scale of 5)
- For open source to be "sustainable", I believe that we need:
- New licenses (e.g., SSPL)
- Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon)
- "Subscription" systems (e.g., Tidelift)
- Eliminate the "freeloaders"
- Change "code" as the only currency of value
- Add government regulations
- Eliminate venture capital/startup money
- Invest in "infrastructure" software
- Eliminate BDFL
- Accelerate diversity & inclusion
- More big "open source foundations"
- Other
- I believe "competition" between projects/communities makes open source better (agree/disagree on a scale of 5)
- When it comes to business models, I believe
- There IS an "open source business model"
- There IS NO "open source business model"
- No strong opinion either way
- When I think of the future of open source, I think the biggest "threats" to open source are
- Cloud vendors/hosters
- Software licensing
- Venture capital/startup money
- "Freeloaders"
- "Income inequality"
- Young developers with no historical background
- Large corporations
- Governments
- "Too big to fail" foundations/governance entities
- Software patents
- Lack of diversity & inclusion
- Other
- I believe "codes of conduct" play a critical role for "open source sustainability" (agree/disagree on a scale of 5)
- In my own words, "open source sustainability" means...
ID,Start time,Completion time,Email,Name,"I believe open source has an ""income equality"" problem","I think ""non-mainstream/new/postmodern"" licenses (Commons Clause, SSPL, etc.) help or hurt the future of open source","Within the next 5 years, I think most open source software will be licensed...","I think ""open source foundations"" play a critical role in the future of open source","For open source to be ""sustainable"", I believe that we need","I believe ""competition"" between projects/communities makes open source better","When it comes to business models, I believe","When I think of the future of open source, I think the biggest ""threats"" to open source are","I believe ""codes of conduct"" play a critical role for ""open source sustainability"""
1,2/23/19 12:11:40,2/23/19 12:13:18,anonymous,,4,Mostly hurt,Mostly with an OSI-compliant license;,5,"""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);Eliminate venture capital/startup money;Invest in ""infrastructure"" software;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",5,"There IS NO ""open source business model""",Venture capital/startup money;Governments;Open source foundations/governance;Lack of diversity & inclusion;,3
2,2/23/19 15:25:55,2/23/19 15:37:18,anonymous,,5,Mostly help,With an OSI-compliant license;,3,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);More big ""open source foundations"";",5,"There IS an ""open source business model""","""Freeloaders"";""Income inequality"";",3
3,2/24/19 2:38:24,2/24/19 2:43:25,anonymous,,3,No impact,With an OSI-compliant license;With new licenses that don't exist yet;,4,"Eliminate the ""freeloaders"";Invest in ""infrastructure"" software;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",4,No strong opinion either way,"""Freeloaders"";Young developers with no historical background;Software patents;",4
4,2/24/19 5:37:29,2/24/19 5:41:11,anonymous,,5,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;,4,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);Change ""code"" as the only currency of value;Invest in ""infrastructure"" software;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;More big ""open source foundations"";",4,"There IS an ""open source business model""","""Freeloaders"";""Income inequality"";Software patents;",3
5,2/24/19 12:49:34,2/24/19 12:55:24,anonymous,,4,No impact,With an OSI-compliant license;,4,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);",5,"There IS an ""open source business model""",Cloud vendors/hosters;Governments;Software patents;,1
6,2/24/19 17:03:08,2/24/19 17:05:35,anonymous,,3,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;,3,"""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",5,"There IS an ""open source business model""",Software patents;Lack of diversity & inclusion;,5
7,2/25/19 7:01:17,2/25/19 7:03:16,anonymous,,2,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;With a non-copyleft license;,4,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);",4,"There IS an ""open source business model""",Cloud vendors/hosters;Software patents;,2
8,2/25/19 7:19:26,2/25/19 7:21:01,anonymous,,5,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;,5,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);Invest in ""infrastructure"" software;More big ""open source foundations"";",3,"There IS an ""open source business model""","Cloud vendors/hosters;Software licensing;""Income inequality"";Young developers with no historical background;",2
9,2/25/19 8:18:49,2/25/19 8:39:31,anonymous,,3,Mostly hurt,Not sure;,4,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);Change ""code"" as the only currency of value;Invest in ""infrastructure"" software;Eliminate BDFL;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",5,No strong opinion either way,"Software licensing;""Income inequality"";""Too big to fail"" foundations/governance entities;Software patents;",4
10,2/25/19 9:50:43,2/25/19 10:07:53,anonymous,,4,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;,5,"""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);Change ""code"" as the only currency of value;Add government regulations;More big ""open source foundations"";",5,"There IS NO ""open source business model""","Venture capital/startup money;""Income inequality"";Large corporations;Software patents;",5
11,2/25/19 12:12:35,2/25/19 12:19:35,anonymous,,5,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;With a copyleft license;,5,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);Invest in ""infrastructure"" software;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;More big ""open source foundations"";",5,"There IS an ""open source business model""","Cloud vendors/hosters;Software licensing;""Income inequality"";Large corporations;Software patents;Lack of diversity & inclusion;",5
12,2/26/19 6:35:41,2/26/19 6:38:33,anonymous,,5,Mostly hurt,With a non-copyleft license;,4,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);Add government regulations;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;More big ""open source foundations"";",3,"There IS NO ""open source business model""",Cloud vendors/hosters;Venture capital/startup money;Young developers with no historical background;Large corporations;Software patents;Lack of diversity & inclusion;,4
13,2/26/19 18:52:54,2/26/19 21:22:12,anonymous,,2,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;With a non-copyleft license;,3,"Education and distribution of wealth (Estela Navarrete) ;Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);""Subscription"" systems (e.g., Tidelift);",4,No strong opinion either way,"Cloud vendors/hosters;Venture capital/startup money;""Income inequality"";Large corporations;",4
14,2/27/19 8:33:37,2/27/19 8:37:10,anonymous,,4,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;,2,Companies that use those OSS should contribute code or money;Eliminate venture capital/startup money;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;,4,"There IS an ""open source business model""","Venture capital/startup money;""Income inequality"";Software patents;Lack of diversity & inclusion;",4
15,2/27/19 18:05:20,2/27/19 18:10:56,anonymous,,3,No impact,With an OSI-compliant license;,2,"Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);Eliminate venture capital/startup money;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",,"There IS an ""open source business model""",Venture capital/startup money;Large corporations;Software patents;,5
16,2/27/19 19:57:03,2/27/19 20:09:24,anonymous,,1,No impact,With an OSI-compliant license;With a copyleft license;,2,Addiing value beyond the code.;,5,"There IS NO ""open source business model""",Cloud vendors/hosters;Software patents;Lack of diversity & inclusion;,3
17,2/27/19 21:18:12,2/27/19 21:27:55,anonymous,,4,No impact,With an OSI-compliant license;With new licenses that don't exist yet;,5,"New licenses (e.g., SSPL);Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);",5,"There IS NO ""open source business model""","Venture capital/startup money;""Freeloaders"";""Income inequality"";Young developers with no historical background;Software patents;",5
18,2/28/19 1:50:06,2/28/19 1:58:02,anonymous,,3,Mostly hurt,With an OSI-compliant license;,2,"Business models that are not ""software"" dependent;",2,"There IS NO ""open source business model""","Young developers with no historical background;""Too big to fail"" foundations/governance entities;Software patents;",2
19,2/28/19 12:09:07,2/28/19 12:12:52,anonymous,,3,No impact,Not sure;,5,"More big ""open source foundations"";",4,"There IS an ""open source business model""",Large corporations;Governments;Software patents;,2
20,3/1/19 0:03:39,3/1/19 0:08:39,anonymous,,3,Mostly hurt,With new licenses that don't exist yet;,4,"Simplification of all existing licences;Distributed funding systems (e.g., Patreon);Eliminate venture capital/startup money;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",4,"There IS an ""open source business model""","Complex licenses;Venture capital/startup money;""Income inequality"";Governments;""Too big to fail"" foundations/governance entities;Lack of diversity & inclusion;",4
21,3/1/19 0:55:08,3/1/19 0:58:47,anonymous,,4,Mostly help,With an OSI-compliant license;,5,"Change ""code"" as the only currency of value;Add government regulations;Eliminate BDFL;Accelerate diversity & inclusion;",3,No strong opinion either way,"Software licensing;""Income inequality"";Large corporations;""Too big to fail"" foundations/governance entities;Software patents;",4
Open source sustainability means having the maintainers capture a big enough portion of the generated value. Currently I think it's too often around 0%.
The ability to keep healthy projects, projects that are being taken care of.
- Leveraging open source usefulness in contributions (be them time, code or money).
- Giving more visibility on the real contributions of open source software or components when these are part of a larger software ecosystem.
- Showing the good and bad aspects of this software development paradigm so that others learn from their mistakes and improve on good practices and methods.
- Avoid multiple licensing schemes as these hinder contributions and generally hurt projects, even if this licensing changes translate into revenue for the mantainers of a particular open source project.
- Attract volunteer and/or paid-for work in critical open source components or projects that span multiple open source solutions which have a large user base.
Making sure that communities have enough money to develop new features, maintain and legally protect open source software that is used by in critical infrastructure in both public and private organizations.
Collaborating and care about software FREEDOM and Openness
Being able to sustain an open source developer's life without hurting the commons pool.
The capacity of humanity of carrying on with the free and open source practice based on the persistence of freedom ideals, the prevalence of openness ethos, and the existence of favorable social and comercial conditions.
Everyone helping each other (money, time, etc) so that the world can advance together.
Making sure that there is a thriving community, diverse in thought and ability, that knows the existence of, how to use, and how to contribute back to open source / free software, so that such software can be maintained and produced for years to come.
Meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
The possibility to contribute to open source software development (and that doesn't need to be necessarily by writing code but contributing to open source communitites) while my life expectatives are assured
Self funding projects without influence or pressure from large corporations or sponsors with a simple licence model with a distributed and committed community with no single lead where all committers are equal
The set of rules/tasks deployed in a project to ensure its survability in all the involved dimensions (i.e., code, community, legal, etc.)