Yesterday, I wrote down some thoughts on Open Core. I covered how there's no real definition of "open core", and how that's problema

The real problem with Open Core

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2024-09-20 20:00:07

Yesterday, I wrote down some thoughts on Open Core. I covered how there's no real definition of "open core", and how that's problematic for some when it comes to calling an open core project "open source."

On this topic, I settle into a different place than others. And that's fine. But let's talk about the real problem with open core: open core isn't really open. You (arguably) have the open source part, which is open, but the proprietary part will never be open.

I'm not saying proprietary software is bad — Keygen itself is proprietary software, at least for a couple years (we'll get into this in a second). Without proprietary software, a lot of businesses wouldn't be viable. So proprietary software is not bad.

But what is bad is saying something is "open", yet — in a lot of cases, the important parts — the valuable parts — are not.