I’m a very much pro free software person and I used to think that GPL is basically the only possible option when it comes to benefits for free software (and not commercial use), but I’ve recently realised this question is actually much more ambiguous.

I think there are two sides to this issue:

  • GPL forces all contributions to stay open-source which prevents commercialisation* of FOSS projects, but also causes possible interference of corporate software design philosophy and all kinds of commercial decisions, if contributions come from companies.
  • MIT-like permissive licenses, on the other hand, easily allow for making proprietary forks, which, however, separates commercial work from the rest of the project, therefore making the project more likely to stay free both of corporate influence and in general.

So it boils down to the fact, that in my opinion what makes free software free is not only the way it’s distributed but also the whole philosophy behind it: centralisation vs. decentralisation, passive consumer vs. co-developper role of the user etc. And this is where things start to be a bit controversial.

What do you think?

*UPD: wrong word. I mean close-sourcing and turning into a profitable product instead of something that fulfils your needs

  • melfie@lemy.lol
    1·
    6 hours ago

    A great example of this is paid Blender add-ons. I love the concept that I can pay for software and not only have a perpetual license and free updates forever (usually), but also get the source code. I often call add-on operators from my own Python pipeline code for further automation, so being able to look at the source helps.

    It’s definitely worth paying and supporting the devs as opposed to finding a copy online where someone has “exercised their GPL right to distribute”, because it’s usually an older version and you can’t ask the dev for help. A lot of add-ons also have assets that are copyrighted and can’t be distributed freely. Outside of Blender, most graphics software is closed-source and subscription-only. Those greedy bastards can all fuck off, and I’ll give my money to decent human beings instead.