In what began as a heated conversation on Twitter, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and Ruby on Rails creator and Basecamp co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson took to the airwaves to debate opposing viewpoints on market share, monopolies, and power in open source communities. Hansson reacted to a statement Mullenweg made in an interview after Salesforce Ventures invested $300 million in Automattic …
Adam Jacob Advocates for Building Healthy OSS Communities in “The War for the Soul of Open Source”
Chef co-founder and former CTO Adam Jacob gave a short presentation at O’Reilly Open Source Software Conference (OSCON) 2019 titled “The War for the Soul of Open Source.” In his search for meaning in open source software today, Jacob confronts the notion of open source business models. “We often talk about open source business models,” he said. “There isn’t an …
StandardJS Ends Controversial Funding Experiment
Feross Aboukhadijeh, maintainer of StandardJS, has formally ended the funding experiment he started lasted week, which inserted ads in the terminal whenever Standard 14 is installed. Although the experiment met widespread aversion, it successfully captured public attention and put a spotlight on the critical need for a viable model of funding open source infrastructure. It also uncovered some intense presuppositions …
Why is WordPress Free? Who Pays For It? How Much Does It Cost?
Millennia ago, a cool compassionate dude took a few loaves of bread and fish and multiplied them to feed thousands of hungry folks. Or so the myth/belief goes, depending on how you view it. Almost 2 thousand years later, humans would invent technology that would pretty much allow the same: Code. So, “what does this have to do with WordPress?” …
StandardJS Pauses Experiment with Ads in the Terminal after Linode Pulls Sponsorship
Feross Aboukhadijeh, maintainer of the StandardJS library, a JavaScript style guide, linter, and automatic code fixer, launched an experiment last week that places ads in the terminal in order to fund development. The experiment has since been paused after receiving negative feedback from the developer community, causing Linode, one of the initial sponsors, to remove its advertisement. “I think that …
New GPL-licensed Quirk App Open Sources Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Quirk is a new GPL-licensed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) app for iOS and Android built in React Native/Expo. The app helps users challenge their “automatic thoughts,” a term that refers to thoughts that come to a person spontaneously in response to a trigger, which can often be negative. Quirk lets users record a quick thought and will automatically narrow down …
WordPress Management: Ongoing Costs to Help You Budget
While the WordPress software itself is free (thanks to the GNU General Public License), running and maintaining a WordPress website comes at a price. Technically, you can start a blog for free on WordPress.com and never pay a penny to keep it going. But in order to be truly effective, you need to treat your […] View original post at …
WordPress Foundation to Sponsor Open Source Educational Events
photo credit: 16th st – (license) The WordPress Foundation is sponsoring a new series of workshops and training events that will introduce people to WordPress and related open source software. The program targets communities in Latin and South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. “Specifically, we want to shine more light on the potential of open source software in countries where …
New WordPress Contributors Meeting Provides Opportunities to Ask Questions and Learn the Ropes
Contributing to WordPress or other open source projects can be intimidating for first-time contributors. Sometimes, all you need is a helping hand to overcome fear, intimidation, or other barriers. In 2013, with the help of Konstantin Obenland, a WordPress core developer, I overcame my fear and contributed my first patch to WordPress. This is one of the principles behind a new …
CoKinetic Systems Pursues $100 Million GPL License Violation Case Against Panasonic Avionics
photo credit: Paper Plane – (license) Open source software has made its way into nearly every industry, but a recent open source security and risk analysis shows widespread license compliance risks, with 75% of the audited applications including GPL license conflicts. Although most violations are unintentional, there are some cases where companies do not comply with the license in order …