Why “Code Is Available” Isn’t always the Same as Open Source [YouTube Release]

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“Code is available” doesn’t always mean software is truly open source. In this video, I break down what OSI-approved licenses actually guarantee, how source-available and open-core models differ, and why licensing matters if you care about long-term access, control, and lock-in. This isn’t legal advice—just a practical look at how I evaluate software licenses before trusting a tool with my data or building on top of it.

The Open Source Initiative

Is it Really Foss?

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Chapters
00:00 Open Source Licences
01:20 Open Source Initiative Approved Licenses
02:51 Is it Really Open Source?
04:30 Examples and Details
07:30 Why Projects Choose Other Licenses?

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Yeah I was concerned on the license of a project I am working on. It isn’t in my repo, but on someone else’s repo. Its a frontend for VyOS. I know funding is going to be real challenging, but I know there is going to be a TON of users, but not enough people wanting to commit to the code. Time is money and I’ve spent a lot of time and money in the project.

3

I have not really kept up with the VyOS project, I thought they were building a web interface for it.

4

They have long since gave up on that. They started a figma page and people were contributing, but anytime someone brings it up they now say that there are other projects creating a front end.