Kyle Mitchell is a dual class lawyer - software engineer. He has worked on a number of software licensing. He joined us on the call last week with Erlend, and we’re going to do a similar fireside chat.
The best way to get a sense of what Kyle is working on and interested in is to read his blog, as well as the License Zero blog.
For background reading, the Parity and Prosperity licenses are good starting points, described simply on the License Zero home page:
Contributors can choose from two software licenses, Parity, an open, share-alike license, and Prosperity, noncommercial license, then sell private licenses through licensezero.com for use in closed source or for profit. licensezero.com sends the proceeds directly to developers’ Stripe accounts.
His latest post, Narrative Error, poses some uncomfortable questions around open source:
Many believe that free and open source software make the world a better place, serve the public interest, or advance great causes like human freedom. Why? Right or wrong, has it been tested?
Open source liberation is a very powerful story. One that remains largely theoretical, beyond the good that open source does for the developers who believe its line. Open source has given me free code, tools, and education. Open source made a number of early proponents rich, and boosted many careers, including mine. That is no cause for moral congratulation. I don’t deserve credit from others from serving myself and my own kind.
Questions and Topics
Have questions ahead of time? We’ll add some areas for discussion, please leave comments or tweet at us and we’ll see what we can cover.
- Indie Devs selling their past time
- License Zero
- Has open source software licensing “won”? What did it win?
- How do you create a new license? asked by @forgondolin here
Join us Thursday, June 18, 2020 4:00 PM
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/116710002 (visit our Discord chat for password).
Video and Audio
There is a little bit of intros and faces at the beginning – including showcasing some nerdy programming books 
– but mostly this is an audio discussion.
Audio version: