Bruce Perens, veteran of open source organizations including the Debian project and the Open Source Initiative, feels open source licensing has “failed,” speaking at this year’s “State of Open” convension (via ITPro). Specific shortcomings according to Perens include GPL circumvention, where companies place restrictions on end products that leverage open source code, which stifles innovation while only the companies get compensated.

A TechTarget article reporting the closure of Weaveworks casts some doubt on the validity of the “open core” model. The company, which created the open source Flex continuous delivery (CD) solutions for Kubernetes, with a focus on GitOps as the configuration method. Analysts covering the event noted that although the business was built on a solid idea that’s still in use today, good ideas don’t always make for successful business models. The article also references recent moves away from open core, such as HashiCorp’s license update and Red Hat’s change in how its RHEL source code is published.

An article by NewsBytes highlights the impact open source has on the farming sector. In addition to direct effects such as access to software to aid in farming operations and their efficiency (i.e. “agritech”), the piece also mentions adjacent benefits such as access to platforms to provide education and training.

In a follow-up to Monday’s report by Markets and Markets, Inc., SNS Insider is projecting the market for open source services to reach $87.7 billion by 2030, growing at a similar 17% CAGR. The report highlights enterprise, and in particular those in the banking, financial institutions, and insurance (BFSI) segments as top growth drivers. Also of mention is Google’s Assured Open Source Software initiative, which provides certified versions of popular open source components.

Markets and Markets, Inc., reports that the market for services around open source software is set to grow by 16.2% CAGR to $54.1 billion by 2027 (via OpenPR). Key segments include managed services, small- to medium-sized enterprises, the Asia Pacific region.

Information Age has listed open source as a “transformative trend” in tech for 2024.
While it’s arguably less of a new trend than it is a continuing one, the article does point out increasing regulator involvement (in the EU, anyway), as well increased competition for developers of closed systems.