The NFR License is a source-available license based of the MIT/ISC licenses but disallows harmful free-riding. The main difference from MIT/ISC is the definition that it can only be used for commercial purposes if it follows the Commercial Use Guideline, which was designed to prevent business and individuals from getting rich off your software without fairly compensating you.
NFRL Full Text:
- Software projects. Otherwise something like CC-BY-NC will probably be better.
- Projects which are the result of a significant amount of time or effort.
- Full products, systems or any other software that could reasonably be a major part of a commercial operation. If your project is a, library choosing other licenses like MIT could suffice.
Note: According to the Open Source Initiative, for a license to be considered open source, it must (among other things) not discriminate against commercial use.
In short, open source does not pay the bills.
If you want to be compensated for investing a lot of time and effort into an open-source project, you will likely have to beg for donations or sponsoring companies, which in the end will still probably not provide enough to justify your time.
Open source, while admirable in its principles, can sometimes lead to unjust outcomes. Think about cases like MongoDB, Redis, and Elasticsearch, where their owners saw companies making billions off their innovations while having to struggle with monetization themselves. And when they finally decided to do something about it, they get accused of "rug pulling".
Defending open source becomes far easier when you're not watching others unfairly enriching from your hard work. Our source-available license aims to empower creators by ensuring they are not sidelined while others reap the benefits of their innovation. It's about reclaiming the fairness and equity that should be inherent in collaborative software development.
Critics often argue that licenses restricting commercial use could hinder innovation. However, a more pressing concern is the plight of passionate developers who struggle to dedicate time to their open-source projects due to the necessity of working 9-to-5 jobs to avoid going homeless. This common scenario significantly impedes innovation and underscores the need for solutions that empower developers to sustainably pursue their creative endeavors.
While other licenses exist, they often cater specifically to their authors' needs and may not provide the flexibility desired by others. The NFR License is based off the very familiar MIT license, and aims to bring a balance in permissions which allows the copyright holder to guarantee fairness in the exploitation of his software.
At the end of the day, it's up to the copyright holder to decide which license better fit its needs.
Just like MIT, all you need to do is copy the license file in this repository, edit the year and copyright holder name, and distribute it with your software in a reasonable manner.
The NoFreeRide License itself is provided under the CC0 1.0 License, and contributions are welcome.
Now go spread the word, for the ones that care to listen. 🙂