[okfn-discuss] The GitHub generation

Mon Jul 22 16:11:14 UTC 2013

On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 11:25:46AM -0400, Eric Mill wrote:
> Stef, I think that's closer to the truth. In the past, there was a greater
> expectation of "finished-ness" before you'd post something and call it an
> open source project. The gap between what people put in a full Github repo
> and what they toss in a Gist seems to narrow every year, and I do like this.
> 
> I don't think the Github Generation (ugh) doesn't care about licensing,
> it's just easy to not get around to unless someone pokes you about it or
> you go through a formal release. I'm surprised Github hasn't taken a more
> active approach to goading people to add a LICENSE the way they do a README
> and a .gitignore. choosealicense.com is well done, but very passive because
> they used Jekyll and stuck to what JS could do (copy license text to
> clipboard).

I would have to agree with Eric. 

The only thing that this figure reflects is the basic human bias for
sticking with the default option. When you set up a new project on
GitHub, the default license choice is 'none'.

At the same time, GitHub and similar platforms have made it easier
to develop software out in the open. And so, as stef said, it's
quite likely that most people who set up a project on GitHub
simply never bother to pick a license for their projects.

What they don't realise is that in this way, their software ends
up non-free, and thereby effectively useless for further
development by others. It is also less attractive for
contributions from others. 

Besides the basic aspect of allowing distribution and further
development, Free Software licenses also have a function as a
social contract between the project's developers. They make
explicit the terms under which the work will be shared.
Developers who fail to make those terms explicit are bound to end
up in "interesting" copyright situations when they accept
contributions from others and begin distributing the program..

So, rather than consciously rejecting an ideology that they see as
outdated, developers who fail to choose a license are actually
shooting themselves in the foot.

Best regards,
Karsten
-- 
Karsten Gerloff                      [ ]   <gerloff at fsfeurope.org>
Free Software Foundation Europe   [ ][ ][ ]      [http://fsfe.org]
President                            | |         +49 176 9690 4298
Support software freedom!                [http://fsfe.org/support]

Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. is a German Verein registered
at the Registergericht Hamburg (VR 17030). 

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