Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by e12e 1339 days ago
Being built on top of wireguard is a plus - although it's a shame tailscale (for good/architectural reasons) doesn't support using standard/kernel mode wireguard.

ZeroTier is source-available - but invents a separate protocol, and so misses out on some shared scrutiny / feedback.
1 comments
api 1339 days ago
ZeroTier is going to a more standard OSS license for its core components soon, probably the MPL.

As for the protocol: yeah, it actually predates the final release of Wireguard a bit. A Noise-based session protocol with similar security properties to Wireguard but based on AES is in the ZeroTier V2 design. (Wireguard is basically Noise_IK.) I also always point out that a good fraction of what people run over virtual networks is already encrypted: SSH, TLS, etc.

(ZeroTier founder here)

BTW we get asked a lot if Tailscale is our competition. IMHO our competition is the "everything runs in the cloud and all you get is a thin client" model of computing. If that wins out we fail and everyone else doing this kind of thing fails.

The existence of very similar disruptor competitors in an emerging market niche is encouraging since it shows there's some "there" there. No competitors can mean no market. Look how many SQL, NoSQL, NewSQL, etc. database vendors there are and many of them do very well.

link
mwcampbell 1339 days ago
> ZeroTier is going to a more standard OSS license for its core components soon, probably the MPL.

What does this mean for embedding ZeroTier applications through the SDK (libzt)? For the sake of your business, I think it makes sense to keep that upper layer, designed specifically for application developers, under something like the Business Source License.

link
api 1339 days ago
The core, apps, and service would go under the MPL, which are the only parts that 90%+ of users use. The controller and libzt would go under something that makes it free and copyleft for non-commercial / non-for-profit use.

For that we're considering the BSL with fallback to MPL, AGPL, SSPL, or MPL plus commons clause. Haven't decided yet.

link
cxr 1339 days ago
What does "BSL with fallback to MPL" mean? BSL unless you go out of business anyway, and then in that case it's MPL?
link
api 1339 days ago
Basically. The BSL has a fallback in certain conditions where the extra provisions disappear and you get the regular OSS license.
link