Allow me to settle the FOSS license debate: User facing softwares like Linux and Blender use copyleft licenses to encourage contributions instead of closed source forks. Libraries use permissive licenses to encourage wide usage without regard for market share. Each has its place!
Sep 19, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Why I used to prefer permissive licenses and now favor copyleft
Sorting out the Ethical Licensing Mess
Software developers who give the world, for free, usage rights to the code they write often use open source licenses to make this gift legally explicit. These free usage rights (and then some) are …
Some startups are going ‘fair source’ to avoid the pitfalls of open source licensing | TechCrunch
New alternative category to 'closed source' could help companies monetize software in the open -- without going all-in on open source.
Reimagining OSS Licensing and Commercialization with Fair Source - Adam Jacob, System Initiative
Software Sharing for Modern Companies | Fair.io
Fair Source is an alternative to closed source, allowing you to safely share access to your core products. Fair Source Software (FSS) can be used with minimal restrictions, and becomes Open Source after a period of time.
CopyFair License - P2P Foundation
= a type of licensing or agreement that aims to re-introduce the principle and practice of reciprocity in markets that use mutualized knowledge (commons), by regulating contributions to these commons for those that commercialize it
Licenses – Open Source Initiative
The content on this website, of which Opensource.org is the author, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Opensource.org is not the author of any of the licenses reproduced on this site. Questions about the copyright in a license should be directed to the license steward. Read our Privacy Policy
Tyranny of Permissionlessness
open source’s narrow focus further empowers those with other ways to exclude
Histomat of F/OSS: We should reclaim LLMs, not reject them
A few days ago, I came across a blog post titled On FLOSS and training LLMs that articulates a growing frustration within the free and open source software…
Ten FOSS Development Fallacies For User Facing Software
This is a list, inspired by the Five Geek Social Fallacies, of common patterns or behaviours that developers of free/open source software (FOSS) fall into when they try to develop software for users who are not technical, or for whom non-technical users would be the most obvious userbase. Hopefully writing these down (which frankly is cathartic more than anything) is helpful to some in recognising these thought patterns and avoiding them when developing software - I’ve got some of my own thoughts on this at the bottom.
Unlocking the commons
"The most powerful and interesting media model will remain raising money from members who don't just permit but <em>insist</em> that the product be given away for free."
