09/03/2019

If You Rely on Open-Source Software, Offer Your Support

The “free as in freedom” mindset is starting to show some cracks

The “free as in freedom” mindset of open-source software, which is increasingly finding its way into mainstream work environments, is starting to show some cracks.

The latest crack appeared within the terminal screen—an experiment by a developer who was trying to find some way, any way, to financially support his widely used work.

Here’s what happened: The open-source programmer Feross Aboukhadijeh, who develops a popular JavaScript programming tool called Standard, decided to create a new JavaScript package called Funding. Funding did something unique for an open-source package: Basically, a developer attached it to another package (which Aboukhadijeh did to Standard), and it showed a “banner” ad in the terminal. It was not a highly graphical ad—just a link and a line of text in a gray box—but it was enough to raise a contentious discussion in the open-source universe.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.