Today FUTO released an application called Grayjay for Android-based mobile phones. Louis Rossmann introduced the application in a video (YouTube link). Grayjay as an application is very promising, but there is one point I take issue with: Grayjay is not an Open Source application. In the video Louis explains his reason behind the custom license, and while I do agree with his reason, I strong disagree with his method. In this post I will explain what Open Source means, how Grayjay does not meet the criteria, why this is an issue, and how it can be solved.
Open source is not a very useful term. Grayjay isn’t free and libre software because it restricts commercial use, and it is definitely source available software. Whether that makes it open source depends on who you ask, and no, OSI is not the undisputed arbiter of all things open source just because they say so.
Griping because someone is using a different definition of open source than you do when they are being very clear about what exactly their license allows is not productive.
Fuck you! Do not feel offended, in my culture “fuck you” means “I agree with you”. I will not let mainstream opinion limit what I can say, my definition is valid.
The point you are attempting to make here is irrelevant and incorrect. The entire problem is that there is no consensus mainstream opinion on the meaning of the phrase open source.
Have you read any article or seen any news covering free/libre software? They always refer to it as “open source” (when they are not saying free/libre). The biggest companies always say open source, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, etc. You need examples? Check any libre code they themselves produce. They refer to it as open source. You know what the project that develops the libre core of Android is called? It’s called “Android Open Source Project”. No kidding. Now show me a project of equivalent size that calls itself “open source” despite not being libre. And no, OpenAI does not count, “open” is not the same as “open source”.
Try reading these comments here. There are just as many people adamant that open source mean source available as there are people who think it means libre. The vast majority of people here don’t follow free software the way you or I do, and this is a niche free alternative website. There’s no point in getting mad at people who don’t obsess over industry definitions and just use open source to mean software that has source code that is available. You know, like the source is open or something crazy like that. It just makes us look bitter and hostile while accomplishing nothing useful.