I kinda just don’t care what the OSI thinks

I’ve begun using the Opinionated Queer License for many of my FOSS projects. It prohibits use of the projects by corporations which pay workers unfairly, prohibits use in military tech or for policing, and prohibits any bigoted use.

I’ve had this discussion a few times now with some fossbro types. Any project under the OQL isn’t considered open source by the Open Source Initiative because it doesn’t allow everyone the same right to use the project. Instead, these projects are technically “source available”, the source code is visible to the public but use is only available under stricter terms.

But I don’t really care what the Open Source Initiative thinks?

I’ve made the source code of my projects available to make the world a better place, not to allow anything I’ve made to be used for evil. If you believe this makes my stuff not technically Open Source, I kinda just don’t care.

“Open Source” is obviously a selling point for projects. I get more excited for a project when I see it’s open source, knowing I’d be allowed to use a project myself and extend it is great. This requirement that a project must be willing to be used for evil to be considered open source just serves to take the ability to promote projects as open source from people like myself.

I’m going to continue to call my projects FOSS whether they’re under the MIT license, AGPL, or OQL. I don’t care that the OSI believes otherwise. The source is available for anyone, and can be used by whoever for anything that isn’t outright evil, and I think that’s all that matters. In the same way that some FOSS projects aren’t allowed to be used without sharing a copy of the license & modifications, my FOSS projects aren’t allowed to be used without having the decency to be an ally.