Maybe It Should Be Called “The Puritanical Open Source Society”

Posted on December 12, 2006
Filed Under Open Source |

I’m kind of tired of these debates about whether something is open source enough or adheres to Stallman’esque values of what free software is supposed to adhere to. There is a further sense of irony that in order for something to be “open” it has to be approved by someone. Having said that, the OSI has to be singled out for doing really good work over the years and it is a legitimate caretaker of open source software principles.

This debate really isn’t about whether something is open enough or not, it’s about a tension that exists between a group of open source advocates who have a rather strict view of the world, let’s call it orthodox, and another group of people who are trying to build businesses and recognize that open source offers them a route to market but want flexibility in how much they adopt. In other words, can you still be Jewish if you don’t eat kosher? I think so.

The issue that Berlind and Perens and others are making is an academic one, whereas the broader market, like me, looks at the issue and says: 1) can I download and use the software without fee or penalty, 2) can I embed it in my own products by meeting appropriate attribution and license requirements for redistribution, and 3) do I get the source code. If so, then it’s open source enough for me, whether right or wrong that is my general feeling about it.

Lastly, I think when you venture into the area of headlines that begin with “so and so makes disingenuous claims” you are treading on thin ice. It’s my great pleasure to have known Ismael and Intalio for many years and I can say without hesitation that this guy embodies the spirit and enthusiasm that the open source community should be actively recruiting. The minute you start advocating purity laws is the minute your movement “turns the worm” by repelling rather than attracting advocates.

» Intalio makes disingenuous claim that it has released code as open source | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: Where ever a vendor uses the phrase open source with relation to a license that is not yet approved by the Open Source Initiative, it should be disclosed that the license has yet to be approved by the OSI. So far, I haven’t seen any vendors heeding this simple request (although it’s possible some have started to do it and I just haven’t seen it yet).

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