What are the most important issues the developer to take into account when deciding whether to use an open source project? Code quality? safety? Good documentation?
These factors are important, but according to a joint survey Tidelift and The New Stack, controlling factors of open source projects open-source license is the most need to be considered. 86% of respondents believe that "acceptable open source license" is very important in terms of the decision to use open source software packages, of which 61 percent described it as "very important." In more than one thousand employees of large companies, it is considered extremely important open source license developers accounted for up to 78%.
Of course, the license is not the only factor to be considered. Survey shows that the level of activity and the importance of maintaining the status of open source projects are also comparable.
However, open-source license in the first place is still good reason: No developer is willing without knowing how the situation will develop next, start using the new software package. Over the years, highly accommodative license (Apache, BSD, MIT) adoption rates have been rising sharply, and a more restrictive license (GPL) shows a decreasing trend.
Early 2000s, advocates of free software began to surge against open-source license, along with OSI launched a project aimed at curbing the spread of license, the controversy peaked in 2014. At that time, many companies or developers have each released a virtual license its name, but the content and nature of the existing license with almost no different, this will only lead to compliance with open source becomes more complicated.
After more than a decade, the pattern of open source license remains substantially unchanged. The past two years, there have been some developed by a new generation of developers license, such as improved working conditions for the fight of anti-996 license, she joined the Hippocratic license moral terms, and so on. For the intent behind these licenses, people can agree or disagree. More important and more difficult to argue, it is their practicality.
In short, open source license is a very real problem. Developers looking for effective software and be able to last long. The survey also showed that they are not interested in unlocking new open source license.
Source: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/developers-still-care-a-lot-about-open-source-licensing/