Why is Github, as a U.S. company, not asking the U.S. to fund Open Source?
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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Probably because the US government is insane.
If Github is so adamant about funding open source, they can do it themselves, too (though I'm fully in favour of the EU funding FOSS). They are literally owned by Microsoft.
The EU SHOULD fund open source, including but not limited to EU alternatives to GitHub.
GitHub is offering quite a lot for free to FOSS (and public repos in general).
I wonder how much cost they have for all the CI minutes they sponsor?
Yeah I find it pretty cool. All public repos have free, unlimited Github actions.
And why is Github not making AI conpanies pay which just suck in all that Open Source code to monetize it without paying a penny?
The only way the US gov would fund open source software if they can be convinced it can be used to kill kids in the middle east
TBH before the USA went totally batshit, they did fund a lot of open source software.
Yeah, some of the software and data they release (or released) is amazing.
What if EU only funds open source that is GPLv3 AND promises to aid the projects in litigation if someone breaks the license?
I don't think they should limit themselves to just GPL. There are some other good (or even better) licenses out there, such as AGPL (I use this one on all my projects), MIT and so on.
I haven't read up on AGPL. How does it differ from GPLv3? :)
MIT f.e. would allow corporations to take the code and profit from it. GPLv3 would ensure that the funding from the EU would go to projects that remains open source and free.
AGPL is like GPL, but it also makes sure the source code of programs used via a network is available to the user.
Example: company provides a cloud service. The user uses that service via the internet. If the license of the service is GPL, the company doesn't have to give the user the source code, but with the AGPL they do.
Maybe the EU could fund only projects under strong copyleft licenses?
I like the idea of public funds supporting code that stays public, which strong copyleft license is used doesn't matter much to me to be honest.
The big thing would be if the EU helped litigate license breakers and not only fund the projects.
I fully agree, they should support FOSS projects on all fronts, not just the code itself (though the code is the most important part).
Btw, you might want to take a look at Public money, public code
AGPL is the superior license!
That truly explains the differences between the licenses, thank you shane.
Sorry I replied to the wrong comment in the thread.
Let me try to explain.
GPL was designed to give users access to the source code for hardware they control.
This worked pretty well until TiVo came up with locks that would only allow you to run kernels they signed. This was to prevent people from putting in cheap disks to their hardware.
So GNU came up with GPLv3, which closes the TiVo hole. It also tried to address the evils of software patents to an extent.
That works okay, but then people invented SaaS (software as a service). In that case the user doesn't own the hardware, so companies don't have to publish the source under GPL. Which meets the letter of the license and gives a big middle finger to the intent.
So AGPLv3 was developed to close that hole. With AGPL users must have access to any open source run by a service to provide them with that service, restoring the ability of users to see what the code is doing, and possibly forking and making their own version if it doesn't do what they want.
Thanks for the explanation and sorry for my sarcastic response. :)
That's not a good criteria, as it would exclude projects that are essential digital infrastructure like curl. The criteria for public investment needs to be general positive impact.
With hundreds of companies using curl in their software I'd say it's up to them to fund it.
Unless a strong copyleft license is used you'll soon find some companies lobbying to have their open source MIT licensed code funded, which they then use in proprietary applications and earn money from while no one else uses the MIT code that was paid for. Essentially having the public investment fund a private company.
Now apply that to roads, electricity grid, rail roads, hospitals, police, firefighters and everything that states pay to keep the economy running.
That's what taxes are for, and the proposal on the table from the EU side is to tax big tech companies to make sure the basic digital infrastructure is well funded.
I see your point but only partly agree. I can see why curl should be treated like infrastructure but I can also see that system quickly being misused as per above.
I strongly believe in having public money create public code, as in Lenas link (https://publiccode.eu/en/) elsewhere in this thread. As the funding isn't infinite I believe that is where it will create the most public good - at least in the long run. Of course there will be outliers and exceptions, and maybe curl would be one of those, I just don't want to see our money flowing straight into the pocket of another tech billionaire with good lobbyists in Brussel.
The EU should agree under the condition that GitHub becomes publicly owned and moves their main operations and servers to Europe.
and removes telemetry
Public entities funding open source development?
Yes, please!
... in collaboration with GitHub?
Fuck, no!
MS GitHub which feeds its AI with all that's stored there? That GitHub?
GitHub wants open source devs paid? Microsoft's GitHub? Fuck no!
Yes, the EU should fund open source devs. Hell, the world should, and immediately bury all tech companies.
However, I'm very afraid that this, as always, will end up with big tech companies pocketing billions whilst the real guys and gals in the trenches will get pelted with pocket change.
Please for the love of fuck, make sure that the money arrives at the real developers making real open source software. For one, the money should only go to projects that are GPL or comparable
as much as i hate thiel the ycombinator was an ingenious idea and use of capital. nothing in human history has had bigger returns on investment.
we need a morally aligned version of the ycombinator. we need zuckerbergs who wonβt abscond open source early on but still have big money backing.
we need to build a better world and we need to use the right tools for the job.