Open Source Definition
Different people mean different things when they use the word "open source", wikipedia has at least 2 separate pages:
The most popular and literal meaning of the word OPEN is used when we definite "open source":
- the source is "opened" for people to access (as oppose to being "closed" when people cannot access)
OPEN not the same as FREE
Having access does not mean it is FREE access, the source may not be provided for free.
We do not support the hijacking of the word OPEN and using it to mean FREE - whether "free" means freedom or free as in money we don't care - what we do care is that "open" does not mean either of those.
Thus the personal console license is an open source license:
Most of our hardware and software are open sourced, giving users the ability to inspect for security holes, ability to customise to their needs, ability to continue operating if we disappear . . . the possibilities are endless.
FREE is valuable in some cases
In most use cases, FREE is actually a good distribution model for OPEN hardware and software, but not in all use cases:
- How many Cloud software started off using the ideas and code from the free and opened sourced software (e.g. XMPP for messaging) and change over to closed source after many users have been locked in ?
Given the same FREE access to the same resources, those with the wealth and skill can generally take advantage of and benefit from them more than those without. Hardly the outcomes that some free software proponents wanted.
Do we still need licenses ?
Citizen Synergy Exchange enables anonymous tracking of production and consumption for both physical and digital products and services. Giving producers and consumers unprecedented visibility while protecting their privacy.
Licenses are too broad, too static and too difficult to enforce in the online world where time and distance are no longer barriers to interaction between producers and consumers.
For the first time in history, producers and consumers can control exactly how they want to exchange resources on a per transaction level with unlimited flexibility e.g. enforcements can be built-in, rewards can be retrospective.