Open source is the key to the force: how can we keep those relationships useful?
Many of today’s online businesses would not exist without the open source community, which writes and manages code that is available for free. How fortunate for for-profit companies building on the Internet today!
And while the developers within the open source community tend to be passionate nerds who altruistically give their time and attention to projects they care deeply about, these communities generally need some form of support to keep their ecosystems robust and growing.
Usually this support comes through sponsorship and investments (financial or labor) by large companies.
These partnerships between open-source development communities and large for-profit companies are mutually beneficial, but can sometimes buckle under the pressure of misaligned incentives.
This was recently on full display in the very public dispute between WordPress founder and CEO of Automattic Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, a hosting provider that supports websites built on WordPress. Both companies use the open source software maintained by the WordPress Foundation and Wordpress.org.
Mullenweg attacked WP Engine for several features and the use of WP (which indicates WordPress) in their name, which he said confused users into thinking they were part of the broader WordPress family of companies. WP Engine stepped in to defend itself, sending a cease-and-desist letter asking Mullenweg to retract his statements and saying their use of the trademark fell under fair use.
This has caused a heated battle between the two companies, leaving end users unable to use their websites and protected from attacks. And there are a lot of users: about 40% of websites run on WordPress software.
But this isn’t a debate limited to websites. The Web – the digital eternity we spend so much time on today – was built on and still runs on much of this free open-source code.
It is crucial that this continues. It is critical that large companies see the privilege of tapping into the open source community and continue to support their work. If benevolence isn’t attractive, then perhaps enlightened self-interest is: where would your team be if that open source community collapsed tomorrow?
At JetBrains, Developer Advocate focused on Python and the web.
Benefits of free and open
The benefits of the open source initiatives are numerous.
The fact that there is a vast collection of software that companies can use to build their business speeds up development times, reduces costs, and promotes competition. It is also a more flexible solution for businesses, not only because it is highly customizable source code, but because there is no contract lock-in, so users can integrate with any third-party tool they want. Additionally, the open source code is completely transparent and vetted by thousands of experts, meaning bugs and errors are found and fixed quickly, creating a safer internet overall.
It seems like a no-brainer for large, wealthy companies to support these efforts. And yet that is not always the case.
As the WordPress drama suggests, this collaboration between public and private entities can become bogged down by unclear usage guidelines, trademark conflicts, and more.
That’s why it’s so important for open source communities to design their projects effectively. There are many potential business models that open source projects can leverage, from software-as-a-service (SaaS) to open core to crowdfunding, but projects need to be aware of the future challenges that may arise. While many choose to monetize the product itself – think of RedHat, which contributes to many open source projects but also provides open source products to companies at a certain price – doing so under the same trademark could cause problems in the future .
Instead, open source projects must separate their foundations from commercial entities and establish strong governance. By separating the public and private, there is less chance of confusion. And strong governance makes it possible for open source projects to build a large community, create material incentives for companies to contribute, and then (and only then) protect themselves from truly bad actors with trademarks.
Reputation at stake
When these steps are taken, for-profit companies have numerous reasons to support an open source project.
First, there is a general self-interest in seeing these free repositories – called the commons – grow because they encourage innovation and collaboration. Supporting open source projects ultimately benefits companies as the programming language and technical tools they rely on expand.
Other companies sponsor open source projects that meet their own very specific needs. For example, Google is a major sponsor of the Python Software Foundation. They are investing large amounts of money in the project to address specific technical challenges within the business use of the programming language. And Meta has invested heavily in solving problems in building Django-based applications to help Instagram scale.
Finally, it is a reputation game.
As the conflict between Automattic and WP Engine has shown, developers are a sensitive audience. Many in the development community are strongly on the side of open source and are keeping it purely for profit. Already, 159 Automattic employees have left, accepting severance packages the company offered to those who disagreed with Mullenweg’s handling of the situation.
It is important that for-profit companies give back to open source projects to build a positive reputation among developer communities. From those communities they not only get code and software, but they can then discover and hire top talent within the open source contributor community.
While the incentives between these two groups may sometimes seem misaligned, ultimately the collaboration is critical to the long-term stability of the Internet we all rely on for an increasing number of daily activities.
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