Open source as a constraint: all of it, or it is an evaluation version with a better name

The constraint is that there is no private code. It makes the code easy to deploy, run and change, including by the customer, which solves many sovereignty problems on its own, and it removes two temptations: to lock the customer in, and the curse of most startups, building every feature and integration one customer wants until the roadmap belongs to everyone but the startup. With open source the answer is: here is the code, integrate it yourself or pay us to do that specific thing. That is why you cannot open source half of it: a community edition that turns proprietary when you use it for real is an evaluation version, and Elastic, HashiCorp and Redis each moved to a non-open licence and each produced a well-funded fork (OpenSearch, OpenTofu, Valkey). The business model that follows is selling customisation and keeping it working.

Decided by. Nobody yet: a candidate for Dinis to read, comment on and decide (keep, rewrite, merge, cut, article first, later, not doing it).

Note. Distinct from the-fork-next-door (the fork as protection) and open-source-removes-the-moat-excuse (why it is easy to throw your own technology away): this is the founder's business reason for all of it. Elastic (29 August 2024) and Redis (1 May 2025) have since added an open licence back; the Open Source Initiative said the SSPL is not an open source licence (19 January 2021). The article's own limit: that small teams win this way is Dinis's view from what he sees, not a study. The constraints remove bad business decisions and leave the good one: if the code is open and the server holds nothing, you cannot sell access to the code or rent the data back.

Where it comes from

The value of constraints Open source, as a constraint; All of it, or it is an evaluation version; The business model that follows (newsroom)

What it answers in the 2018 book

Open Source answered written, MVP for Gen Z Dev

Where it goes

Chapter Open source, part Build it without a server (drafting); topic Open source: contribute, fork, and why it protects everyone.

Other ideas proposed for the same chapter: Open source means nobody can lock you in: the fork next door, Your first pull request: open source is still the newcomer's best door, Open source, community and OWASP: working and getting hired in the open, with the names behind it, Open source is why it is easy to throw your own technology away, Open source everything, and sell the customised, tested, maintained build, Open source is not free: somebody pays, and the people who get the value have no easy way to.

Node idea:open-source-all-of-it-or-it-is-an-evaluation-version in graph.json; see it in the graph. Source: admin/content/graph/ideas.json.