all these moves will likely help, but the reality is that they also won’t matter. They won’t matter because “open source” doesn’t really matter anymore. Not as some countercultural raging against the corporate software machine, anyway. All of this led me to conclude we’re in the midst of the post–open source revolution, a revolution in which software matters more than ever, but its licensing matters less and less.
In the end sums up nicely
But it’s not the end, and the open source Rambos among us need to realize this. The goal of open source, of cloud, of open APIs, of great documentation, etc., is to enable developers to build with less friction and more opportunity.
One of the realities of today is there are so many OSS options for about anything – developers have lots of options. For a new OSS project to even get any attention is a major accomplishment. Developer experience, documentation, and community matter (IE, low friction). I’m not talking about political correctness, inclusivity, or whatever is the trending metric. But rather, can developers get things done and solve the problems they are working on? Can people who want to help learn and participate without getting thrown under the bus for minor technicalities? This can be difficult as maintainers who care about quality are often overworked.
Even in well-established projects, these factors matter if you are going to attract and keep new developers. Past success does not mean you have a sustainable path going forward.