Scott gave us an exciting look into the future of open source in his talk at the WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2024! Discover how the community evolves, lessons from GitHub, and the challenges of today's open source landscape. Check out the video:

Here is what he had to say:

Hello, everyone! It's truly fantastic to be here and see such a packed room. Today, I want to talk about something very close to my heart: open source. Usually, I discuss Git, GitHub, or Gitutler, but there's been some noteworthy shifts in the open source community that I believe are worth exploring.

Open source often feels like it's always been around and static, but that's far from the truth. The community and the world around it have evolved significantly. Let's dive into some intriguing aspects of this evolution, but first, let me start with a story about jam.

Raspberry Jam and Regulation

My co-founder, who also serves as the COO of Gitutler, once ran a food group called Dillane Arro. They packaged a product known as Himimir Marmalade—german for raspberry jam. Now here's where it gets interesting: in Germany, the term "marmalade" is legally regulated. According to German law, marmalade must contain at least 20% citrus fruit. Because raspberries are not citrus, they couldn't label their product as marmalade, even though that's the colloquial term everyone uses.

I see this as a metaphor for open source. Just like the jam regulation, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) established a set of rules long ago, defining what constitutes "open source." If your project doesn't meet these criteria, you can't claim it's open source, even if it operates just like other open source projects.

A Shift in Open Source Perception

In the early days of GitHub, being public on GitHub was almost synonymous with being open source. However, that's no longer the case. Today, if your project isn't under an OSI-approved license, it's not considered open source, even if it's publicly accessible and community-driven.

A Licensing Dilemma

At Gitbutler, we're building a new Git desktop app. We aimed to follow open source principles—public repos, community engagement, transparent code—but faced a dilemma. As a VC-backed company, we didn't want our work to be easily cloned and competed against. So we opted for Sentry's recently developed Functional Source License (FSL), which has a non-compete clause, thus rendering it non-OSI compliant.

When we announced our project as "open source," we received significant backlash. Tweets ranged from calling us posers to declaring our license disingenuous. This reaction underlined the strict boundaries that still exist within the open source definition.

The Evolution of Open Source

To understand where we are today, let's take a quick journey back to the origins of open source. In the 1950s and 1960s, source code was distributed with hardware because it had no standalone value. This shifted in the 1980s when software started to gain independent value, leading companies like AT&T and IBM to protect their code.

The Birth of the Free Software Movement

This was the era of proprietary software, prompting activists like Richard Stallman to create the GNU General Public License (GPL). The GPL's viral clause ensured that any modifications also had to be open, a direct response to the closed proprietary systems.

The Open Source Initiative

In the late 1990s, companies began to see the value in open source, guided by influential writings like Eric Raymond's "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." Netscape's decision to release its source code was a game-changer, leading to the formation of the OSI. The OSI aimed to make open source appealing to businesses, distinguishing it from the politically charged term "free software."

Transition to Corporate Open Source

Over the past 25 years, open source has evolved dramatically. Git and GitHub have been instrumental in this change. By standardizing workflows for both open and closed source projects, GitHub made it easier for companies to adopt open source practices.

Corporate Contributions

Today, most open source contributions come from corporate employees rather than individual hobbyists. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook now sponsor major open source projects, significantly changing the ecosystem.

Modern open source is largely a corporate endeavour.

What Doesn't Work: Sustainability and Commercial Open Source

Despite its evolution, open source faces significant challenges in developer sustainability and commercial sustainability.

Developer Sustainability

Open source maintainers often bear a thankless burden. Increased dependency on small libraries has led to burnout among maintainers. Recent incidents, like the XZ crisis, highlight the unsustainable pressures on these individuals.

So much modern digital infrastructure depends on small libraries nobody thinks about or even knows.

Commercial Open Source

Companies like Hashicorp, Elasticsearch, and Redis have turned to licenses that protect them from being outcompeted by cloud giants like Amazon. While these moves often anger the open source community, they're essential for the company's survival.

Solutions and the Road Ahead

Funding Models

Several platforms aim to improve developer sustainability:

• GitHub Sponsors: Allows individuals and companies to financially support maintainers.
• Thanks.dev and Librepay: Encourage companies to contribute to open source projects.
• OSS Pledge: A new initiative by Sentry to standardize financial contributions.

Embracing Commercial Licenses

We need to rethink our strict definitions and embrace new licensing models that balance openness with commercial viability. The term "fair source" could pave the way for this new era.

The future of open source lies in sustainable practices and a broader acceptance of commercial licenses. By adopting terms like "fair source," we can create a more inclusive and flexible ecosystem that benefits developers and companies alike.

Consider fair sourcing your code so that we can have more open collaboration without the associated risks.

Call to Action

• If your organization depends on open source, consider supporting it through financial contributions or GitHub Sponsors.
• Explore the OSS Pledge to help maintain critical open source projects.
• Think about adopting fair source licenses for your proprietary code to foster community engagement without compromising your business interests.

Thank you for your time.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below or reach out to us directly if you have any questions. If you're interested in learning more about our initiatives, visit OSS Pledge or check out our Github Repository.

For the complete video talk, watch The Future of Open Source.