“Android, in a license sense, is perhaps the most well-documented, perfectly open ‘thing’ that there is,” Luis Villa, co-founder and general counsel at Tidelift, said in a panel discussion at the State of Open Con25 in London this week. “All the licenses are exactly as you want them — but good luck getting a patch into that, and good luck figuring out when the next release even is.”
This gets to the crux of the debate: Open source can be something of an illusion. A lack of real independence can mean a lack of agency for those who would like to properly get involved in a project. It can also raise questions about a project’s long-term viability, evidenced by the countless open source companies that have switched licenses to protect their commercial interests.