Today, we're announcing that CodeCrafters is going Fair Source.
We're joining Sentry, Codecov and others, in choosing a license that preserves the spirit of OSS while permitting a defensible business model.
Many top developer companies are Fair Source
The challenge with Open Source
Often, maintainers of commercial software projects want to share their project's source code in the spirit of transparency, to build trust, and also to encourage collaboration. This should be encouraged.
But using a non-compete on an Open Source project is frowned upon. Not using one doesn't align commercial interests.
Often, OSS and Business interests are at odds with each another
What is a maintainer to do?
Enter Fair Source
Fair Source is software that:
- is publicly available to read;
- allows use, modification, and redistribution with minimal restrictions to protect the producer's business model; and
- undergoes delayed Open Source publication (DOSP).
Fair Source brings together the desirable parts of Business and Open Source
Fair Source makes it possible for maintainers to share source code in a manner that is sustainable in terms of long term business interests.
Conclusion
CodeCrafters is now Fair Source.
We've benefited from studying a variety of software projects — and we'd love to also let you study and use ours. Check out our GitHub org.
To learn more about Fair Source, check out fair.io.
