[WJW]

I want to be optimistic about this, but I don't think the result would be that every company would sign up for this. Rather, every company would implement their own 10-liner library for adding ANSI color codes to terminal output. The whole system of smallish dependencies you add in on an as-needed basis only works when the cost of adding them (INCLUDING the transaction costs, the cost of dev hours spend on convincing the procurement dept, etc etc etc) is cheaper than the cost in dev hours of just writing it yourself.

In addition to this, if a company pays for software the devs they buy it from had better respond quickly to security vulnerabilities and feature requests. The standard FOSS "this software is provided as-is, without even some guarantee of fitness for purpose" is not really something that would fly in a commercial contract.

[rndhouse]

> the cost of adding them (INCLUDING the transaction costs, the cost of dev hours spend on convincing the procurement dept, etc etc etc) is cheaper than the cost in dev hours

I think this gets to the heart of the matter. The goal with OpenFare (for non-FOSS) is to minimize this overhead cost. I believe that it can be minimized to a point where it is negligible. For FOSS it is already negligible. The method for minimizing that cost is to make a predictable pattern familiar and ubiquitous.

> had better respond quickly to security vulnerabilities and feature requests

That depends on the deal. If you buy software for $.01 what do you expect beyond your expectations had you paid nothing? Software support can't be assumed just because money is trading hands.

[cromulent]

Yeah, the $BIG-CO companies I work for have many many developers and projects. Once they realize that they pay a small yearly fee (compared to seat licences for Intellij etc) and that saves tons of time, they would pay it for sure.

The "no warranty, express or implied" is an important part of the licence.