One Startup's Heretical Plan to Turn Open Source Code into Cash | Hacker News Reader

One Startup's Heretical Plan to Turn Open Source Code into Cash

wired.com

4 pointsmholt4 comments

We use (and created) Fair Source (https://fair.io/) here at Sourcegraph (https://sourcegraph.com).

Happy to answer any questions people have about the license. You can also check out a recent talk I gave about Fair Source at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_x-9oJ4pv0.

Does 'number of users' include downstream users? Say I use fair source in an application which I then sell to a bunch of end users. It doesn't seem like that falls under "For determining the number of users, “you” includes all affiliates, meaning legal entities controlling, controlled by, or under common control with you."

Also what made you decide to go with 'number of users' as the determining factor for payment over a democratization model like with Unreal Engine?

Great questions.

Re: users, you can define "users" however you'd like, if you do so clearly on your own site where people can download your software and code. We're working on making the definition of "user" clearer; that's part of why Fair Source is only v0.9 right now. In some cases you'd want "users" to include end uesrs, and in some cases you wouldn't, so we need to figure out how to accommodate both cases.

Re: why "number of users" not Unreal Engine's model (paying $20/month to see source code) or the id Software/Quake model (open-source the previous version): Those work for libraries, but Fair Source is intended for end-user applications right now.

Just to clarify, Unreal Engine's model has changed; there's no longer a $20/month fee to access the source code or use the engine. Its now just a % of revenue starting after you earn a certain amount. And the option to negotiate the license is always there.

The reason I like this model is it encourages use in areas where you have multiple users but you aren't using the software to make any money like in schools.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com