SaaS vs OSS – Fight or flight, round #2

The blog post discusses the evolving landscape of software licensing in the open-source community, highlighting a trend toward more restrictive licenses as a response to pressure from major cloud providers like AWS. It mentions several companies, including Confluent and MongoDB, which have adopted more protective licensing models, such as the Confluent Community License and the Server Side Public License (SSPL), to safeguard their intellectual property from being exploited by cloud services. This shift is seen as a departure from the collaborative spirit traditionally associated with open-source projects, potentially creating silos and limiting contributions from smaller as-a-service vendors. The author argues that while these changes may be a logical response to the dominance of large cloud providers, they ultimately represent a step backward for the industry. The post suggests that a more collaborative approach between open-source vendors and infrastructure-as-a-service providers, focusing on shared benefits and contributions, would be more beneficial, and encourages end users to support vendors who align with long-term ecosystem values.