Op-Ed Column

Has Open Source Licensing Reached Its End of Life?

Recently, I finished working on a software project that I’m especially proud of. It took months of effort to complete, and the final result was something that perfectly fit my needs. It was a labor of love.

It’s not important to reveal the purpose of the software here, or the technical details of its inner workings. Simply allow me to say that it’s something that I will use right away, and that other programmers may find useful as well.

When the project was complete, there were a few important decisions that I needed to make. How do I share what I’ve created? How can I get fair compensation for my efforts? And how do I protect what I’ve created from unscrupulous profiteers?

I’ve been developing software for a long time, so I’m familiar with all the options. Still, I was ambivalent about my choices this time around: do I go the popular open-source route and hope for the goodwill of others, or do I go in the opposite direction and try to create some sort of copy-protection scheme with obfuscated code.

On the one hand, the software industry as a whole has reaped the benefits of open source. I don’t need to recount all the success stories, or all the naysayers who eventually went on to become proselytizers of the open source creed.