Comment by samcodes | Hacker News Reader

Comment by samcodes | Hacker News Reader

When I open source code, I use MIT. I have introduced open source strategies at places I work, and guided teams through the process.

Ok now that I've established my OSS cred: I'd be really interested in a license that is effectively MIT, _except_ for the 20 largest software companies, for whom there is no license and any use is restricted (you'd need to clearly define what makes a company a software company, and what it means to be the largest, but that's what lawyers are for). They could pay for a commerical license if the customer demand was high enough.

This seems like it would address the main issue as I see it, that is, I want almost everyone to be able to use my software to build cool shit and make money... But if you're FAANG or some shit, come on. The rules are different.

>that's what lawyers are for

One of the reasons the standard open-sources licenses such as the GPL and the permissive licenses are as popular as they are is the lowness of the probability that lawyers will ever be involved.

There was widespread use of GPL software in the 1980s and early 1990s for about 15 years IIRC before the first lawsuit involving GPLed software. Stallman and his legal advisor Eben Moglen did a great job in reducing ambiguity when writing the text of version 2 of the GPL and in explaining the ramifications of the license to developers and prospective users.

This could put off anyone who thinks they could be acquired by such companies from using your software as well. How can anyone know who is going to make it onto the blacklist for the next version etc. Seems quite the can of worms.

If we're getting into company-specific bans, I'd much rather be using the one that banned Palantir than one that bans FAANG, and the one that banned Palantir resulted in a massive backlash.

I quite like what TimescaleDB have done here - their TSL licence prohibits you from selling TimescaleDB as a service, but allows you to build new services that use TimescaleDB as a backend. I'm not sure how applicable this model might be outside of databases though.

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