Comment by yobbo
This is what has happened with things like Linux, Android, chromium and so on because they are released products.
GPL didn't foresee SaaS becoming such a huge thing. As I understand, AGPL is a step on the way to fixing this.
This is what has happened with things like Linux, Android, chromium and so on because they are released products.
GPL didn't foresee SaaS becoming such a huge thing. As I understand, AGPL is a step on the way to fixing this.
SQLite is developed in a similar way, by the way. Maintainers aren't required to accept community patches. It's not part of the four freedoms or whatever. Realistically, open-source licences only give the user the rights to use the software, redistribute it and fork if needed, but no "voting" rights regarding the upstream copy.
You're talking about open development and governance, which are often associated with open-source, but aren't required.
You are correct, but I'm not sure that the colloquial usage of the term "open-source" is very consistent with propietary platforms that just happen to make source code available
Android (and to some extent, Chromium) are weird cases of a major corporation weaponising open-source to broaden their already market-dominant position.
Android in doesn't even accept patches from the like of you or I, and future versions are developed almost entirely in secret.