The Benefits of Open Source and the Risks of Open Core

Chapter 6. Is Your Vendor Doing True Open Source?

This report has demonstrated the benefits of open source for companies and their clients alike. But as we’ve seen, companies try to present themselves as open source while behaving very differently. They may be honestly confused about where their strategies depart from open source or may be deliberately hiding strategies for locking in clients. This chapter helps you separate true open source organizations from those who just masquerade as open source.

Is 100% of the Code Licensed Under an Unmodified, OSI-Approved License?

The license fundamentally divides open source from open core. A company can certainly offer different products or services under different licenses. But the product or service you want to use should be 100% open source. An open core strategy is a red flag that should warn you off. Even if the features that are proprietary are not features you want to use, the company’s adherence to the flawed open core model will weaken their commitment to the open source part of the product.

Also, make sure that the company hasn’t modified a license they adopted from the OSI or FSF. Any change to the license, even an apparently benign change, signals danger. Even in the best case, the company adding or subtracting a clause is departing from best practices, because the OSI-approved licenses have been extensively examined by the best programming and legal minds. In the worst case, the change to a license reflects a hidden plan ...