OPEN PATH

Fizzy Should Be Fair Source

37signals released a new product last week, a kanban implementation called Fizzy. They also made the code source-available under a new license they’re calling the O’Saasy License. In this post I want to make the case and extend the invitation to 37signals to join the Fair Source movement with Fizzy.

What is Fair Source?

Fair Source is a movement parallel to Open Source that we started last year. Our intent is to resolve the conflict between community and corporate interests that has plagued Open Source since the beginning. We currently have a dozen companies on board.

As with Open Source, the structure of Fair Source is:

1. Definition
2. Licenses approved as fitting the definition
3. Projects published under an approved license

Here’s a chart of parallels:

According to the Fair Source Definition:

Fair Source Software (FSS):

1. is publicly available to read;
2. allows use, modification, and redistribution with minimal restrictions to protect the producer’s business model; and
3. undergoes delayed Open Source publication (DOSP).

Fizzy Is Very Close

In his announcement post, DHH describes their new license as “basically the do-whatever-you-want-just-don’t-sue MIT License, but with a carve-out that reserves the commercialization rights to run Fizzy as SaaS for us as the creators.” That clearly fits the second point of the FSD.

Later in the post he says, “I’m also just a huge fan of being able to View Source.” So clearly we’re philosophically aligned on point 1, as well.

The only missing piece for the O’Saasy License to qualify as Fair Source is point 3, delayed Open Source publication:

Delayed Open Source Publication (DOSP) is the practice of distributing or publicly deploying software under a proprietary license at first, then subsequently and in a planned fashion publishing that software’s source code under an Open Source license.

I’ve proposed a small change to the O’Saasy License that would make it fit the Fair Source Definition.

Why DOSP Matters

Why does DOSP matter enough to include in the definition of Fair Source? Because it offers two key protections to the community:

1. Protection against enshittification. If a company loses its way with a product, the community or another company can pick up with a version prior to when the decay set in, and carry it forward in a different direction.
2. Protection against vendor disappearance. If the original product owner goes fully out of business, it’s guaranteed that others can carry it forward unencumbered.

David himself identifies the problems that DOSP solves:

Even products that start out with great promise and simplicity tend to accumulate cruft and complexity over time. A healthy ecosystem needs a recurring cycle of renewal.

[…]

In an age where SaaS companies come and go, pivot one way or the other, I think it’s a great reassurance that the source code is freely available[.]

Having source available provides only limited reassurance, however. As the O’Saasy License stands today, every company would be responsible for hosting its own deployment of the software, in the event an O’Saasy-licensed product is abandoned or degraded. Especially for a product like Fizzy that is marketed toward non-technical users, the current license provides no realistic path forward if upstream maintenance stops. Non-technical customers cannot be expected to self-host, and under the current license, nobody can do it for them.

With DOSP, there is the truly “great” reassurance that another organization (whether a commercial company or a non-profit foundation) could step in to carry the product forward for the sustainable benefit of all users.

An Invitation

Open Source is about community—companies and individuals giving up some measure of control in exchange for participation in greater value created by all. Fair Source is an opportunity for company founders that wish to share their core software products without jeopardizing their core business models, to create a new movement together based on shared values. We have a dozen folks on board already. We would welcome 37signals to join us and make Fizzy Fair Source.