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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 9337706" data-attributes="member: 85870">So I'm of two minds on this. One -- by any measure, the "open source" movement across intellectual property contexts (software, books, games, music) is a huge boon to the public at large. The internet as it exists in its current form would bear little resemblance to what it would otherwise were it not for the Free Software Foundation and GNU/Linux, and everything in that ecosystem---Apache, OpenSSL, MySQL, and many, many more. The spirit/zeitgeist/intent is clear---it's a movement designed to produce openness, sharing, collaboration. Two --- However, every participant who either produces or consumes open source content is under no obligation to adhere to the spirit of intent; they merely must comply with the letter of the license at hand. 99.9% of people who consume open source content generally do so with zero intention to give back or re-share something they've added to it. And frankly, no one should feel guilty if you are one of those consumers, and nor should others be upset or otherwise harbor bad feelings to anyone who chooses to do so. It's anyone's right to legally consume and use open source content in whatever manner they choose within legal limit. Getting bent out of shape because someone doesn't choose to follow the largely unstated spirit of the open source movement is useless, unhealthy, and damaging to the movement.Observationally, it's odd how emotionally invested some can become over policing who is following the spirit and intent of open source, rather than just adhering to letter of the law. There's no pushback against companies and individuals releasing copyrighted content and then expecting to have that content legally protected. But somehow when someone contributes the bare minimum to meet the standards of open source contribution, it's some kind of affront to the entire open source movement as a whole. From a practical standpoint, open source is just one of many possible business strategies for releasing creative work.</blockquote>

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