X-Git-Url: https://info9.net/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=tmarble%2Fposts%2FA_Hug_is_Symmetric.mdwn;fp=tmarble%2Fposts%2FA_Hug_is_Symmetric.mdwn;h=b1c1a2f2b70340aaaa61f04ff4e22dbf1ad34315;hb=25f37f45c25c5659d9a3608776e0fa9ca77c74cd;hp=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hpb=19a415cc5d45e990f04b5eafac364423cb50fee1;p=wiki.git diff --git a/tmarble/posts/A_Hug_is_Symmetric.mdwn b/tmarble/posts/A_Hug_is_Symmetric.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1c1a2f --- /dev/null +++ b/tmarble/posts/A_Hug_is_Symmetric.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,170 @@ +# A Hug is Symmetric + +An embrace is warm when two are pulled together. +A one arm hug is a patronizing squeeze that makes +for a (bad) photo op. + +This little blog post is my > 140 response to my +new friend [@dberkholz][dberkholz]'s post +[The Story Of Data: Whither the GPL? Why we don’t need it anymore][dberkholz_story]. I met Donnie at [FOSDEM][fosdem] this year +just after he joined [RedMonk][redmonk] -- the analyst +firm that is essential for anyone in software +development to follow. (Full Disclosure: RedMonk and Informatique, Inc. +do not have any business affiliation). + +While I acknowledge that permissive licensing has become +fashionable I think it is a grave disservice to suggest that +restrictive licensing in FLOSS is withering, unneeded or for the +uneducated. + +This recent dust up is a result of an ongoing meme +of "the Decline of the GPL" started last year by +[Matt Aslett][aslett_decline]. To which fuel was added +by a recent [BlackDuck][blackduck] analysis also asserting the +the decline of the GPL. In precious few seconds of research +I was unable to to find the BlackDuck report itself, but +only [mention][mention] of [it][it]. Ultimately the approach +of the BlackDuck study is one of the problems. The data and methodology +have not been made available for peer review -- the basis +of the scientific method which defines progress in every +academic discipline. + +During our first [Legal Issues DevRoom][fosdem_legal_issues] at FOSDEM +we had several talks touching on the impact of software +(and other artifact) licensing on FLOSS. Of special note: +John Sullivan, Executive +Director of the Free Software Foundation gave a talk "Is copyleft +being framed?" and Richard Fontana, Red Hat's Open Source Licensing +and Patent Counsel gave a talk, "The (possible) decline of the GPL, and what to do about it". Slides for these and other talks are available +[[here|/fosdem/LegalIssuesDevRoom/Speakers]]. Sullivan's data +and methodology are available for review and suggest that +the use of GPL is vibrant. + +I do hope that my friend and former Sun colleague [Rich Sands][richsands] -- +who is now at BlackDuck -- can help shed some light on their analysis. + +But I'm not here to quibble about the data. I want to talk +directly to the assertions made from the data. + +## 1. Compliance is complicated + +In this era of continuous development and continuous +deployment powered by tools like the uber awesome [Jenkins][jenkins] +you can't really say with a straight face that making +a tarball and publishing it somewhere is hard. +Even in the embedded space there are tools like [Yocto][yocto] +make delivering "Complete and Corresponding Source" just +one of the build products. + +For the massive, commercial enterprise which is Java™ +Oracle manages to publish the [source][openjdk_source] +code for [OpenJDK][openjdk]. Under the GPL. +And Oracle publishes it from a tightly intermingled source +base comprising open as well as closed, proprietary components. + +## 2. The collaborative development model is really all you need + +Bruce Perens was right: collaboration is better. Yet collaboration +is necessary, but not sufficient to build a community. +As we have become more familiar with FLOSS models it has +become increasingly clearly that copyright assignment or licensing +agreements that put a corporation in asymmetric control +of a codebase does not foster the healthiest communities. + +When inbound == outbound licensing and everyone is symmetric +footing collaboration *and* contribution thrive. + +[Simon Phipps][webmink], also a friend and former Sun colleague, +has written about the health of projects such +as [Libre Office][libreoffice] and assessing the health of +FLOSS [governance][scorecard]. + +## 3. Commercial products == proprietary products + +"Not to mention that copyleft licenses make it much harder to build +proprietary products". Well maybe we should start with understanding +there might be a difference between building products and making a +biz model around them vs. the licensing of said products. + +With Red Hat hitting the milestone of $1 [billion][rht_billion] in revenue +I think we can put to rest the question, "can you make money with +open source?" Certainly Red Hat has some proprietary licensed +products, but the crux or their business model is based on +restrictively licensed, copyleft software. Red Hat invests +an enormous amount of developer time to give back to the community... +And apparently they are not suffering for it. Apparently +this isn't too complicated for them. And apparently the +bottom line is doing just fine, thank you. + +## 4. Restrictive licensing doesn't matter in Cloud + +If anything the rise of "Cloud Computing" drives the +[need][need] for an [updated approach][agpl_cloud] to restrictive licensing. +This was the real motivation behind creating +the [AGPL][agpl]. Why is this? It's because traditionally +restrictive licensing kicks in when the software is *delivered*. +In web services you get data, but not software (in any form). + +A great deal has been written about copyleft in the cloud era... +Since Donnie's post included "Data" I think it's worth +mentioning the [Freedom to Leave][freedom_to_leave] and +the [Franklin Street Statement][franklin_st]. + +*(Secret: data is more valuable than code :) )* + +## 5. You can't build a business on restrictive software + +Jeremy Allison has clearly articulated why the [GPLv3 +is essential][gpl_samba] for the commercial Samba marketplace to +thrive. He talks about symmetry providing a necessary +level playing field (and he spoke about this [recently][lp_2012]). + +Evan Prodromou has built the StatusNet business on +AGPL'd software and is selling the [Decentralized Social +Web][statusnet] into Enterprises. + +And NoSQL all star, MongoDB, is [licensed under the AGPL][mongodb_agpl] +and the company behind it, [10gen][10gen], seems to be doing just fine. + +## Work with Me + +So whether or not the GPL is in decline (or not) only +scratches the surface of the how the FLOSS revolution has [transformed +information technology][how_linux] in the past 20 years. +I bet the that Story of Data in the next 20 years will +tell us that symmetric collaboration is the big win. + +Ultimately the key thing is to remember that permissively +licensed software is also Free Software. + +[dberkholz]: https://twitter.com/#!/dberkholz +[dberkholz_story]: http://redmonk.com/dberkholz/2012/04/05/whither-the-gpl-why-we-dont-need-it-anymore/ +[fosdem]: http://fosdem.org/2012/ +[redmonk]: http://redmonk.com/ +[aslett_decline]: http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2011/06/06/the-trend-towards-permissive-licensing/ +[blackduck]: http://www.blackducksoftware.com/ +[mention]: http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2012/02/gpl_d_debian_software_skew/ +[it]: http://techrights.org/2012/02/20/gpl-whole-story/ +[fosdem_legal_issues]: http://fosdem.org/2012/schedule/track/legal_issues_devroom +[richsands]: https://twitter.com/#!/richsands +[jenkins]: http://jenkins-ci.org/ +[yocto]: https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/Yocto_1.2_Overall_Test_Plan#Compliance_Test.28Covered_in_Fullpass_Test.29 +[openjdk]: http://openjdk.java.net/ +[openjdk_source]: http://download.java.net/openjdk/jdk7u2/ +[webmink]: https://twitter.com/#!/webmink +[libreoffice]: http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2012/02/libreoffice-founbdation-symbolises-maturity/index.htm +[scorecard]: http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/02/open-by-rule-progress-report/index.htm +[rht_billion]: http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/03/red-hat-hits-a-billion-dollars-in-revenue-a-milestone-for-open-source.ars +[need]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.html +[agpl_cloud]: https://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/new-cloud-applications-drive-popularity-agpl- +[agpl]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html +[freedom_to_leave]: http://webmink.com/essays/freedom-to-leave/ +[franklin_st]: http://autonomo.us/2008/07/franklin-street-statement/ +[how_linux]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE&list=UUfX55Sx5hEFjoC3cNs6mCUQ&index=1&feature=plcp +[lp_2012]: http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet2012/Schedule +[gpl_samba]: http://faif.us/cast/2011/may/10/0x0F/ +[statusnet]: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP11746 +[mongodb_agpl]: http://blog.mongodb.org/post/103832439/the-agpl +[10gen]: http://www.10gen.com/news + +[[!tag FOSDEM LegalIssues GPL AGPL data OpenJDK RedMonk]]