this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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Privacy
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Watch how Firefox either gets sold or suddenly blocks all ad blocking addons.
Can you sell open source software..?
Not the code per se, but everything around it can be sold. You can sell access to the repository, support services, compilation services, development services, and so on. Mozilla could sell itself to some greasy investor and go full steam ahead on enshittification e.g embed ads in the browser, sell user browsing data, connect it to their own services, and so on.
Anti Commercial-AI license
Anything can happen anytime also
You can actually sell a GPLed binary and any client would have to ask for the source. Boom, selling the source!
It’s independent on the organization and the other stuff.
You don't have to be a client 😉 And of you have to request the source, that's already against the license, I believe. That's how lawsuits start(ed).
Anti Commercial-AI license
You can be a third party but it’s confusing. What I’m sure is that you don’t have to put the source code, i.e. people may have to ask for the source, like https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#WhatDoesWrittenOfferValid
I didn't know that. Thank you. Learned something new today!
What a complicated licence.
Anti Commercial-AI license
Yeah but you can always fork it from the last push before that happened and then only tools will go with the enshitified version.
If it's that easy, why hasn't it been forked yet?
You make a valid point, but forking is a lot more than clicking "fork".
Anti Commercial-AI license
Yes. Even Stallman agreed with that. That’s the story of the GPL. But you’re talking of selling the Mozilla corporation which is different.
Yes you can. You need to buy out all the contributors and then you can do whatever you want. Prior versions remain open source, but they could change that going forward.