Today FUTO released an application called Grayjay for Android-based mobile phones. Louis Rossmann introduced the application in a video (YouTube link). Grayjay as an application is very promising, but there is one point I take issue with: Grayjay is not an Open Source application. In the video Louis explains his reason behind the custom license, and while I do agree with his reason, I strong disagree with his method. In this post I will explain what Open Source means, how Grayjay does not meet the criteria, why this is an issue, and how it can be solved.
Also, this all has nothing to do with Grayjay unless the person who takes it over decides to start charging money for it. Anyone is free (libre) to maintain it and distribute it for free (gratis).
If you take over a project of this scale you need to make this your job and thus get paid. There’s a good reason Louis hasn’t just pushed this out as his hobby project but hired developers.
If you can’t it won’t happen. My point is more: If it was possible to take over, would it really happen? Extremely unlikely.