About this episode
Wes and Scott talk with Chad Whitacre, the newest member of the Syntax team, about all things open source—licenses, controversies, economics, and ethics. Chad breaks down what most people misunderstand, and how companies can support sustainable software development the right way. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:39 Meet Chad Whitacre 03:39 Chad’s retro headphones Retrospekt 05:00 Chad’s role at Syntax https://syntax.fm/oss Open Path 09:41 What do people get wrong about open source? 11:11 Why is open source so divisive? 13:01 The evolution of open source and free software 17:55 Single vendor vs. community open source 20:22 How do people build businesses off of a GPL license? 24:40 What’s the most pure version of open source? 26:55 Fair source licensing explained 30:30 Brought to you by Sentry.io 33:09 Should you be concerned about dependencies in your app in relation to licensing? Fair Source 35:16 What’s the most interesting/unusual open source license? Beerware License 40:00 What is Open Source Pledge? Open Source Pledge 45:41 Choosing the right open source license 48:31 Wes’ most popular open source project wait 49:39 Interesting open source projects Mercedes-Benz embraces Open Source Porsche Open Source Platform 51:33 Licensing for educational content 53:46 The beauty of open source Plausible 56:12 Scott’s various open source projects 56:44 The importance of contributing to open source projects 59:16 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Chad: Save The Cat! Shameless Plugs Chad: Coming soon Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads