Let's pretend we're proponents of free and open source software, enlist an army of week intentioned FOSS developers to contribute to our project, and once successfully deployed in many enterprises across the industry...
Pull the rug out and convert it into a proprietary product with a bunch of undisclosed, hidden code that we won't ever show you - Muahahaha...
Yeah. I see this happening right now in several prominent and celebrated open source projects that you're probably completely oblivious to those sinister objectives.
This is why the most ubiquitous desktop operating system in the world is Minix.
What's that you say?
Yup, Minix. But that's no secret, the cat was out of the bag on that one a few years back (after being secretly so for many years).
Before you contribute any more code, translations, or documentation to a software project, consider this:
Now, there's another point to be made here, without specifically naming any projects currently abusing user contributions. Let's call this hypothetical project "hammer&anvil", itself a fork of a popular software project - but claims it's all about being free and transparent, wanting to distinguish itself from the project it's forked from by adopting GPL3 instead of a permissive license.
Sure, the project's BDFL (let's call her "Strawberry Daiquiri"), says one day, "were forming a fork of project X because they've formed a company and I'm afraid what they are going to do with X because it's under a permissive license. This girl will be brutally transparent and completely run by the community under the philosophy of anarchy, but we're going to call it a sociocracy so you don't know that it's really just me making a proprietary product for my own ambitions".
Well, Miss Daquiri decides to capture by capitalizing upon the sentiment that folks have for Copyleft - it's supposed to protect free software, right?
Well, this fork (hammer& anvil) is a hosted solution - meaning SaaS, meaning, it runs elsewhere (other than in your computer) in the cloud as a publicly accessible service. Hmmmm.
That means that the most appropriate Copyleft license is likely the AGPL, and not the GPL as one would expect fur a desktop or other local program that you actually download and install in your laptop or server.
The GPL requires that when you distribute (give away or sell) your program, either by letting someone download or handing it to them on a USB stick, Etc., You must also make available ALL of the source code, including any changes you've made to the program.
But if you run a modified GPL program as a service in the cloud you don't have to provide ANY off the changes you've made to the code.
Hmmm.
With AGPL you do have to supply your users with ANY code modifications you've made to the running service to which they have accounts...
So let's just say that you fork Mastodon, and call it Glitch-Soc, modify it, and run it in the cloud for people to create accounts on and use (for free or for monthly subscription fees - it doesn't matter). ANY and ALL changes to the code base that you make MUST be made available anytime a user asks for the source code, because it's an #AGPL licensed product.
And in reality, such is actually the case with this exceedingly popular and capable #fork. It's a fine product in it's own right.
But had you changed the license to all contributions moving forward to #GPL, you wouldn't have to provide any modifications you made (unless you give or sell the software product itself on say, a USB stick or via download).
Why? Because you're just allowing them to access and use your service, your not actually giving them the program to use for themselves elsewhere - so any modifications you made since forking under a different license (GPL instead of AGPL) isn't something you have to show them.
You've essentially created a #proprietary product (if you're so nefarious as to hide your code changes by butt disclosing them), the only code of which you must supply being that which existed under the AGPL before you forked it.
Both #Copyleft and permissive open source #licenses like #BSD and #MIT can be a good thing, or they can be abused beyond the intentions of the #FOSS inclined project contributors. Just make sure that you understand what can and cannot be changed where your intended purpose for the #distribution and #availability of source code is concerned....
There are BIG differences between the ramifications of each #license and how they can affect transparency and distribution of your free gifts to the world.
In our hypothetical scenario with hammer&anvil, the #BDFL, #Strawberry Daiquiri, has decided that she's going to launch a hosted service, and she's going to include things that you don't see and can't be aware of behind the scenes which, if disclosed, you would have nothing to do with - but you'll never know what kinds of scary things she's done with the product that only resembles the original on the surface, because Miss Daquiri will never have to show you the code she has added behind the scenes.
"Beautiful Victor, Beautiful."
-The Monster, speaking to his creator in the film, 'Frankenstein, The True Story'.
Well, not really before, coz we did air fry them before adding the cheese some, and the prep was to mince bacon, onjions (sic), anda couple of portobello stypes, frying and reducing them in an iron skillet, then filling those jalapenos, before putting them into the air fryer for less than ten mins at 375° F, then sprinkling either shaved mozzarella on half or a Mexican blend on the other half. It's def a recipe to scale up, leaving your lips tingling.
I'm a few days late posting this. Certain projects and utilities I try to showcase as soon as they come out of the oven, but lately I've been tending to other, more pressing matters since my move back to #SuperSunnySouthernCalifornia - like chillin' at the #beach, #spearfishing, and of course, bangin' it out with girlfriends I haven't been able to hangout with for over six years.
@tallship Oh man, this brought me way back. Two of my colleagues in the beginning of 2000s recommended me #Slackware as the best distribution to kick-start my #Linux journey. Initially I was sure they were trolling me as it took me good 3 months to get to the point I was able to launch X, but I’ll remain forever grateful as I learned so much because of it… To this day my muscle memory defaults to checking out man pages instead of Googling things 🤷🏻♂️😄
Picked up this beautiful lady at her place, and she was keen on doing a steakhouse thing together.
We hit it off really well and I was excited to be with such a vibrant, adventerous woman.
After a couple of drinks we decided to head over to Outback and I unlocked and opened her door. She scoffed under her breath, and as she halfheartedly intended, I heard it.
Oddly, to me, she didn't reach over and unlock my door from her side. Ummm....
Fuck that bitch! We made friendly small talk as I got ready to drop the tranny (pundit) into drive and then I abruptly told this bitch to get thee fuck out my truck. I made it plain enough that there would not be any questions or discussion - abrupt and frank as I was.
Later, I met a nice girl after dinner in the lounge, as sus as one might find, meeting chicks in that sort of randomized scenario, yet often the most truthful.
Yah, no need to say more about people being truthful with each other so there's no crooked roads ahead.
I'll say more after breakfast, but I sense we're cooking it together here at her place, from what I've gathered so far - awesome! A night sleeping next to and holding another human being and fighting over spatulas in the morning!