5 ms·

Did the two Israeli dudes violate the Redis license?

by kdmytro 4y ago

d3nj4l 4y ago
Is it possible to do something legal, yet morally wrong?
- xadhominemx 4y ago
  Clearly there was demand for a commercial offering. What should they have done differently?
- bad416f1f5a2 4y ago
  “By selecting this license I give anyone permission to do X, Y, and Z with my software - provided they do A as well.” “I’m going to chose to do Z and A with your software.” “Moral hazard! Moral hazard!” Picking a license indicates what you are willing to have others do with your work. If you don’t want people to be able to monetize it, pick a different license.
  - mananaysiempre 4y ago
    > Picking a license indicates what you are willing to have others do with your work. Picking a license indicates what you are willing to have others do with your work without going after them with a threat of handcuffs and prison bars. I might not be willing to do or threaten (government-mediated) violence to someone for being an arsehole, and yet consider them an arsehole.
    - ahepp 4y ago
      This seems pretty silly. It's a civil matter, isn't it? Has anyone ever gone to jail for violating an open source license? You could simply choose to not pursue legal action against license violators. Choosing a permissive license and then complaining when people do what you gave them permission to do is just ridiculous.
      - dec0dedab0de 4y ago
        You can goto jail for not paying a civil settlement. All laws are eventually backed by violence.
      - xyzzyz 4y ago
        > It's a civil matter, isn't it? No. Willful copyright infringement for commercial game is a crime. See 17 U.S.C. § 506(a).
- seqizz 4y ago
  It's possible. But there is nothing immoral here.
  - rvnx 4y ago
    External impression, not facts, but intuition seeing how some VCs and startups are acting: He didn't seem to have a real choice, maybe an illusion of choice since (from an external point of view) as he was pinned against the wall. They were using his software commercially and even using the trademark of Salvatore (he was complaining about such uses occasionally). He was broke, I guess that's why he didn't register the trademark. Literally while they raised 40M USD, he was explaining struggling on this board: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12506743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12506743 This is actually one year after the first Redis Labs deal :/ Totally not the speech of someone with a multi-million exit in sight. Fast-forward several years later: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203596 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203596 (with already >1B valuation) If Salvatore just got 10% of the company he would get 100M+ USD. 1%: 10M+ USD. Something must have happened. If I'm wrong and he is super rich, then it's my mistake, but in general it's incredibly easy to get screwed up in a hostile shareholding / corporate environment when in front of you you have experienced lawyers and bankers.
    - bonzini 4y ago
      As long as the stock is illiquid you aren't really settled, are you?
- anonymousiam 4y ago
  Are you referring to Microsoft's business model?
- chris_wot 4y ago
  It is, but did they?

Did the two Israeli dudes violate the Redis license?

d3nj4l 4y ago

Is it possible to do something legal, yet morally wrong?

xadhominemx 4y ago
Clearly there was demand for a commercial offering. What should they have done differently?
bad416f1f5a2 4y ago
“By selecting this license I give anyone permission to do X, Y, and Z with my software - provided they do A as well.” “I’m going to chose to do Z and A with your software.” “Moral hazard! Moral hazard!” Picking a license indicates what you are willing to have others do with your work. If you don’t want people to be able to monetize it, pick a different license.
- mananaysiempre 4y ago
  > Picking a license indicates what you are willing to have others do with your work. Picking a license indicates what you are willing to have others do with your work without going after them with a threat of handcuffs and prison bars. I might not be willing to do or threaten (government-mediated) violence to someone for being an arsehole, and yet consider them an arsehole.
  - ahepp 4y ago
    This seems pretty silly. It's a civil matter, isn't it? Has anyone ever gone to jail for violating an open source license? You could simply choose to not pursue legal action against license violators. Choosing a permissive license and then complaining when people do what you gave them permission to do is just ridiculous.
    - dec0dedab0de 4y ago
      You can goto jail for not paying a civil settlement. All laws are eventually backed by violence.
    - xyzzyz 4y ago
      > It's a civil matter, isn't it? No. Willful copyright infringement for commercial game is a crime. See 17 U.S.C. § 506(a).
seqizz 4y ago
It's possible. But there is nothing immoral here.
- rvnx 4y ago
  External impression, not facts, but intuition seeing how some VCs and startups are acting: He didn't seem to have a real choice, maybe an illusion of choice since (from an external point of view) as he was pinned against the wall. They were using his software commercially and even using the trademark of Salvatore (he was complaining about such uses occasionally). He was broke, I guess that's why he didn't register the trademark. Literally while they raised 40M USD, he was explaining struggling on this board: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12506743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12506743 This is actually one year after the first Redis Labs deal :/ Totally not the speech of someone with a multi-million exit in sight. Fast-forward several years later: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203596 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203596 (with already >1B valuation) If Salvatore just got 10% of the company he would get 100M+ USD. 1%: 10M+ USD. Something must have happened. If I'm wrong and he is super rich, then it's my mistake, but in general it's incredibly easy to get screwed up in a hostile shareholding / corporate environment when in front of you you have experienced lawyers and bankers.
  - bonzini 4y ago
    As long as the stock is illiquid you aren't really settled, are you?
anonymousiam 4y ago
Are you referring to Microsoft's business model?
chris_wot 4y ago
It is, but did they?