Free and open source software projects are in transition

Baldur makes an interesting observation about how, in the early days of the web, it was likely the whole stack behind the website was closed: servers, browsers, operative systems, all closed source. This stands in contrast to today’s world where the server, database, client framework, operating system, are likely all open source (or made up of many open source components). He points out:

A majority of the value created by modern software ultimately comes from free and open source software.

It’s a good point. But many of the “open” aspects of today’s tech are starting to be open in theory, but essentially closed in practice:

There isn’t anything inherently proprietary about Eleventy Edge. In theory, there are a few “edge computing” services that should be able to support it, but in practice, the company that employed the project lead at the time and the only company actively funding the feature, is going to be the only one whose service is reliably supported.

This is so true of so many tools branded as “open” source but in practical, functional terms, they’re tied to a specific provider. But there are alternatives:

This is the reason why I’m excited about the partnership between Eleventy and CloudCannon and the project’s refocusing. It isn’t that the project will get simpler to use (though I’d be happy if it does) but the complementary nature of the collaboration creates a dynamic where every part of the project benefits the community as a whole, in a non-extractive way.

Pairing two technologies that complement each other is a powerful thing.