So I'd suggest you stick with the open API, and perhaps have an open reference implementation, but add value in a secret sauce on the server side which competitors can't simply copy.
So I'd suggest you stick with the open API, and perhaps have an open reference implementation, but add value in a secret sauce on the server side which competitors can't simply copy.
I guess they could sign the copyright over to him, but I don't see another way around that. (IANAL)
But if someone (competitor or not) forks and adds SuperAwesomeFeature (without signing the copyright over), pkrumins can't pull that into his and license it commercially. It'd have to only exist in his AGPLv3 version, which sounds like hell.
The only danger for pkrumins is if the "forker" is able to make his new fork the more popular, more advanced fork. That doesn't happen very often, and really, when it comes down to it it's just a case of being out-competed, which is a danger every business faces.
IMHO, it comes down to whether pkrumins is going to gain more (in mindshare, in community contributions, etc.) by going open source, vs entirely closed source. If he's going open source, AGPLv3 lets him minimize the leverage his source releases would give to a direct competitor, with no likely reduction in his upsides (i.e., the previously mentioned increase in mindshare, the community contributions, etc).
That's of course hypothesizing that there are upsides for him in going Open Source. Clearly he seems to think there are.
A company who wanted to use their products for commercial use must provide a link somewhere on their page to the source, and share any mods. I think this is a big incentive to buy a commerical license from them, as it may look a little less than professional.
Assuming they don't though, and they publish their changes, there is still incentive for them to sign over the copywrite. If they want any backwards compatibility for updates and bug fixes (very important for a runtime platform), they need to. Its that or port everything back over.
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Linode already has an in-browser interface to Lish, and I don't think Lish would work over VNC anyway, since it seems to operate on a lower level.
On the other hand, perhaps their thinking on this is part of the secret sauce, and it's being kept secret for good reason.