Codetown
Codetown ::: a software developer's community
Some thoughts on licensing from Google's Chris DiBona
Chris DiBona is the director of open source at Google, and he's been taking a big part in the open source and Free software ecosystem for a very long time--not least in his role with Google's Summer of Code. He recently posted on Twitter what he calls "a little rant" about software licensing -- well worth reading the whole (short!) thing.
Upshot: Be cautious and humble in selecting a software license; ones that have been around and used happily by others have advantages, including familiarity to users. This applies to open source licenses, but maybe not so surprisingly at least as much to licenses that offer some of the qualities of open source (availability of code) without all the freedoms that FOSS developers have come to expect.
New licenses, especially ones with complex restrictions on use, can make users shy away from them.
Comment
Happy 10th year, JCertif!
Notes
Welcome to Codetown!
Codetown is a social network. It's got blogs, forums, groups, personal pages and more! You might think of Codetown as a funky camper van with lots of compartments for your stuff and a great multimedia system, too! Best of all, Codetown has room for all of your friends.
Created by Michael Levin Dec 18, 2008 at 6:56pm. Last updated by Michael Levin May 4, 2018.
Looking for Jobs or Staff?
Check out the Codetown Jobs group.
InfoQ Reading List
Google Open-Sources AX a Kubernetes Style Orchestrator for Autonomous AI Agents
Google has open-sourced AX, an orchestrator designed for managing autonomous AI agent workloads. AX operates on a runtime, Agent Substrate, treating agents as stateful actors. It provides resource-efficient task suspension and resumption to optimise performance and reduce latency in idle phases. It features a control plane with Kubernetes-style primitives for managing agent tasks and resources.
By Olimpiu PopGitLab Duo Expands Self-Hosted AI Options Through Microsoft Foundry
GitLab has expanded GitLab Duo Self-Hosted to support models deployed through Microsoft Foundry, letting organizations run GitLab's AI development capabilities against models hosted in their chosen Azure environment.
By Craig RisiPresentation: Maximizing Success with Limited Time, Resources, and Energy: Lessons from Startup Engineering
David Gudeman discusses battle-tested architectural patterns for resource-constrained engineering teams. Drawing from over a decade of startup experience, he explains how pairing GCP, Firebase, and Cloud Run accelerates product-market fit. Learn how to eliminate redundant frontend state, structure event-driven backends, and maintain lean DevOps while building for long-term scalability.
By David GudemanChangesets v3: Bumps Peer Dependents by Patch and Ships ESM Only with an 88% Smaller Install
Changesets v3.0, released on August 11, 2026, introduces significant updates for JavaScript monorepos. It offers leaner installations, a rebuilt CLI, and changes to peer dependency management that resolve long-standing complaints. Upgrading involves configuration updates. The tool focuses on versioning and changelogs while supporting contributors in declaring release intents.
By Daniel CurtisOut-of-Order HTML Streaming Moves from JS Frameworks into the Browser
Out-of-order HTML streaming, a user experience pattern popularized by front-end frameworks and that allows users to view and interact faster with a page before it is entirely loaded, is making its way to web browsers. The proposal has the browser patching placeholders as data arrives. Developers can use either declarative HTML or matching JavaScript APIs. Available in Chrome 151.
By Bruno Couriol
© 2026 Created by Michael Levin.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Codetown to add comments!
Join Codetown