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Elasticsearch-does-not-belong-to-Elastic.md (3141B)

    

  1. ---
  2. title: Elasticsearch does not belong to Elastic
  3. date: 2021-01-19
  4. ---
  6. Elasticsearch belongs to its 1,573 contributors, who retain their copyright, and
  7. granted Elastic a license to distribute their work without restriction. This is
  8. the loophole which Elastic exploited when they decided that Elasticsearch [would
  9. no longer be open source](https://www.elastic.co/blog/licensing-change), a
  10. loophole that they introduced with this very intention from the start. When you
  11. read their announcement, don't be gaslit by their deceptive language: Elastic is
  12. no longer open source, and this is a move against open source. It is not
  13. "doubling down on open". **Elastic has spit in the face of every single one of
  14. 1,573 contributors, and everyone who gave Elastic their trust, loyalty, and
  15. patronage**. This is an Oracle-level move.
  17. <iframe
  18.   width="560"
  19.   height="315"
  20.   src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/-zRN7XLCRhc?start=2483"
  21.   frameborder="0"
  22.   allow="accelerometer; autoplay; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
  23.   allowfullscreen></iframe>
  25. <p>
  26. <a
  27.   style="display: block; text-align: center"
  28.   href="https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?t=2483"
  29. ><small>Bryan Cantrill on OpenSolaris &mdash; YouTube</small></a>
  31. Many of those contributors were there because they believe in open source. Even
  32. those who work for Elastic as their employees, who had their copyright taken
  33. from them by their employer, work there because they believe in open source. I
  34. am frequently asked, "[how can I get paid to work in open source][0]", and one
  35. of my answers is to recommend a job at companies like Elastic. People seek these
  36. companies out because they want to be involved in open source.
  38. [0]: https://drewdevault.com/2020/11/20/A-few-ways-to-make-money-in-FOSS.html
  40. Elastic was not having their lunch eaten by Amazon. They cleared half a billion
  41. dollars last year. Don't gaslight us. Don't call your product "free & open",
  42. deliberately misleading users by aping the language of the common phrase "free &
  43. open source". You did this to get even more money, you did it to establish a
  44. monopoly over Elasticsearch, and you did it in spite of the trust your community
  45. gave you. Fuck you, Shay Banon.
  47. I hope everyone reading will remember this as yet another lesson in the art of
  48. [never signing a CLA](https://drewdevault.com/2018/10/05/Dont-sign-a-CLA.html).
  49. Open source is a community endeavour. It's a committment to enter your work into
  50. the commons, and to allow the community to collectively benefit from it &mdash;
  51. even financially. Many people built careers and businesses out of Elasticsearch,
  52. independently of Elastic, and were entitled to do so under the social contract
  53. of open source. Including Amazon.
  55. You don't own it. Everyone owns it. This is *why open source is valuable*. If
  56. you want to play on the FOSS playing field, then you play by the goddamn rules.
  57. If you aren't interested in that, then you're not interested in FOSS. You're
  58. free to distribute your software any way you like, including under proprietary
  59. or source-available license terms. But if you choose to make it FOSS, that means
  60. something, and you have the moral obligation to uphold.