We are going to make the core Wolfram Language available as a cloud computation type platform in the near future. The main idea is that anybody should be able to run Wolfram Language code using their browser as a frontend, without necessarily having a license.

Specifically, I would be very surprised if small programs are not free for anyone to run, and if we don't offer some free tier (X minutes of kernel time a month).

Really, we have a strong interest in making WL ubiquitous for doing algorithmic and knowledge-based work. That does certainly mean opening it up more, though as some other people have pointed out, that is probably not going to take the form of open-sourcing the kernel [at least, not until we have different revenue streams in place].