For Robert Jacobi, open source should be at the top of the requirements list for any technology he uses. He’s the first to admit he isn’t perfect about it. He lives in what he calls his little Apple universe and is happy there, finding those products safer and more secure, among other reasons. In the end, it comes down to weighing what makes sense and what doesn’t.
Dave Lockie raised the cost-benefit side of it. Going all in on freedom with Linux sounds great, but for someone who just wants to use the tech, it would mean a lot of sysadmin work. Robert agreed. He only has so much energy to spend in this lifetime, and that has to be optimized too. Whether people realize it or not, everyone makes that call every day. Do you really want to walk 4 miles for a sandwich that takes 2 hours, or do you call a delivery service?
That led Dave to a bigger question: where is the fight for freedom online? Open source is one component of freedom, not the only one, but is that fight even part of the conversation right now?
Robert thinks the real fight is between SaaS and open source. The GPL, as most people use it, doesn’t require companies to give their work back to the project as long as they run it internally. He credits Automattic with doing a good job here, since a significant portion of the work done at WordPress.com winds up back in the WordPress project. But plenty of companies keep their improvements inside or behind a SaaS product when they should be pushing them back out to the public, so everyone can innovate and make their own technology decisions.
And it’s not just a WordPress issue. Oil companies, industrial companies, and consumer product companies all rely on open source tools. If a company is using that software internally, calling it SaaS, and following the GPL to the letter, then Robert’s view is that we need to change the GPL to build in more accountability and let the public reap some of the rewards it helped create.
He brings it back to home. It isn’t only his own time and money going into open source. His family’s time and money make his contributions possible, so everyone in the household benefits. And that circle only gets wider the further out you go.
Our sponsors keeps our network independent and actively publishing.
Since 2005, Automattic has built tools for the open web including WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Jetpack that are used by millions of people to create, sell, and publish online. They believe in ownership, flexibility, and open source and we’re grateful for their support. Learn more at automattic.com.
In five days, Omnisend moves every flow, list, and template off your current platform, and you could be paying up to 35% less without lifting a finger. You just show up when it’s done. We’re glad to have them supporting the show and the community we’re building around it. Use the code OpenChannels and get 30% off your first 3 months of any paid plan.
