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Comment by candiddevmike | Hacker News Reader

What we really need is better "free, source available, non commerical" licenses and breaking the stigma that these are somehow inferior to FOSS _for end users_.

I have many things I would make source available if I didn't have to worry about someone reselling them.

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Would MySQL, PostgreSQL (among many many others) be so good as they are if they weren't open source but just source-available? I don't know, but I suspect not.

THIS! I got the exact same problem. Last year a company wrote me and wanted a quote for a job to my open source software, so that they are able to sell my software to others?!

I mean... okay... it's currently a MIT license, but I really was pissed just for the question.

Why do you worry about someone reselling them? What is the harm to you?

Because someone takes the work you dedicated countless hours of your lifetime to, and gains off it without any effort while you don't, no?

What is the harm to you? Not releasing it also means that you don’t profit from it.

If you’re just sitting on it and not monetizing it, and you release it and someone else generates revenue with it, you have not been harmed in any way.

humans have an inate built-in (genetic) sense of reciprocity with regard to sharing. It will decrease the quality of his life if he feels he's participating in an unfair system, even to the point of harm (stress, anxiety)

Gifts aren’t “sharing”.

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