| I recently ran across the the license for Dragonfly [1] which has some restrictions (rights reserved), but 5 years after the license date the license switches to Apache 2.0. Basically a time-limited rights reservation. I don't hate it. I might even contribute to such a project for free. I propose something like this: When I release code, it's rights-reserved for 5 years, then open-source (and this particular clause would be irrevocable). Anyone may use the software for non-commercial purposes. Anyone may contribute, those who contribute will be granted permission for commercial use if I deem their contributions significant enough. Anyone may distribute the software under these terms. If such a model became popular, I have a hard time imagining it could make things any worse. It might even accelerate open-source development by shifting societies resources to those who are actually producing this valuable software. You might say, "but it's not open-source", fair enough, but we can view it as open-source contribution with a delay. For example, if this model became widely popular this year, and we saw great progress with this model, then come 2028 we would be flooded with new open-source software and ultimately might be better off than we would have been without this model. Ultimately people choose to make their software open-source for moral reasons, and because they hope that by giving they might receive in turn--I contribute, you contribute, and we share freely (and we're both poor). This model I've talked about still achieves similar goals. People might still be willing to contribute, even for free, because I have given them an irrevocable legal promise that their contributions will be made available to all at a specific time. (This whole thing makes me rethink copyright and patents and how much they really contribute to society. Perhaps their terms should be shortened?) [1]: https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/blob/main/LICENSE.m... |
You don't need to propose it. If its your code you can just do it.
I would recommend that you clearly document (for yourself, if not publically) what your goals are. Is it money? Fame? Github stars? Users? Contributers? Something else? In order to determine if the license is a success you need to set goals, and then measure the results.
Frankly, while this topic comes up frequently on HN, it's getting somewhat boring. I'm starting to come around to the viewpoint that you can either give your work away for free, or make a living, [1], but fundamentally those two goals are against each other.
Sure you can make a living tangential to the work (docs, support et al), but of course that's taking time away from the code (so kinda just like a day job.)
[1] as with lots of fields, like authors and music, there is a tiny sliver of people who manage it, and are held up as examples that it can be done.
But I do applaud your creativity here, and i encourage you to experiment. My first thought is why bother to go Open at all? Presumably to meet some goal and it will be interesting to see if it meets that goal.
I suspect you are looking for contributers (but I'm putting words in your mouth here) and I would suggest that the vast majority of projects get no contributers, regardless of license.