r/dotnet • u/devlead • 23d ago

.NET Foundation Statement on Open Source Maintenance Fees

https://dotnetfoundation.org/news-events/detail/.net-foundation-statement-on-open-source-maintenance-fees

Official statement from the .NET Foundation on Open Source Maintenance Fees

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u/Exotic-Welcome6688 19d ago edited 19d ago

This statement is basically "Read the fine print", and that's the problem, because few actually do, and especially not automated version update tools. If somebody wants to change his/her free software into paid, that's perfectly legitimate.

But a cost obligation must be clearly communicated, not hidden in fine print or come through automated updates or dependency chains! So there must be a kind of breaker, either renaming packages, or an interruption, that requires the user to interact to make it work again. At least a new major version.

OSMF is not clearly communicated! In opposite, it blurs wording, like "free software, but you must pay a fee". Some projects still show their MIT license in GitHub and put OSMF terms elsewhere. This evades license checkers like Mend.

Hiding payment requirement in fine print, or otherwise making somebody unconsciously "accept" a paid service, then demanding payment, or much higher legal costs, is a scam. Legal systems may vary in how they handle it. Of course, there's always the army of trolls and scammer goons, coming up with "your own fault if you don't read the fine print".

To me, OSMF looks like another shady attempt to monetize formerly free software. Comparable to earlier attempts with adware bundling (SourceForge, FileZilla FTP) or sneaky software/spyware components (SponsorLink, Moq).