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0 pointslelandbatey8y ago0 comments

In a statement from Facebook on August 18th, 33 days ago[0]:

    We have considered possible changes carefully, but we won't be changing our
    default license or React's license at this time. We recognize that we may lose
    some React community members because of this decision. We are sorry for that,
    but we need to balance our desire to participate in open source with our desire
    to protect ourselves from costly litigation.

Given that they apparently didn't think it was a big enough deal then, and what changed was Wordpress, I don't think it's incorrect to give them some credit.

[0] - https://code.facebook.com/posts/112130496157735/explaining-r...

We have considered possible changes carefully, but we won't be changing our default license or React's license at this time. We recognize that we may lose some React community members because of this decision. We are sorry for that, but we need to balance our desire to participate in open source with our desire to protect ourselves from costly litigation.

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6 comments · 2 top-level

jhgg8y ago· 3 in thread

If I had to speculate, I'd suspect that even though they reaffirmed the BSD+Patent license publicly, FB probably started exploring the possibility of relicensing the projects shortly after that. Not to say WP saying they wont use react didn't help, but I don't think it was the "tipping" point for them at all.

Legal matters at big companies generally take months to resolve and come to consensus over. I can easily imagine their legal team evaluating all such scenarios that a change in license could hurt them (as they should), and that kind of research isn't something done in haste.

tacon8y ago

>Legal matters at big companies generally take months to resolve and come to consensus over.

Sure, at your typical big public company. But Facebook voting control is firmly in the hands of Mark Zuckerberg, and he doesn't have to wait for approval of a board of directors. Just like when he decided to buy Instagram for $1 billion in a matter of days. If Mark detected developer sentiment shifting, he can move just as fast as he wants to stanch the bleeding.

abiox8y ago

> If Mark detected developer sentiment shifting, he can move just as fast as he wants to stanch the bleeding.

how is react's popularity at all material to facebook's interests? at best it means you get more outside contributions, but you already have plenty of talent internally.

2 more replies

rhizome8y ago

If I had to speculate, I'd suspect that even though they reaffirmed the BSD+Patent license publicly, FB probably started exploring the possibility of relicensing the projects shortly after that.

If I had to speculate, I'd say they did a ton of research on existing licenses on the route to BSD+Patent, and they already knew what the best alternative would be if it came to that.

rdiddly8y ago· 1 in thread

Oh sure, a framework used on a quarter of the web might have had something to do with it, but actually it was my Hacker News comment the day after the Wordpress news, that put the final, decisive nail in the coffin. It captured so many people's hearts and minds, it ended up with seven upvotes ...and still counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Yup, 7.

You're welcome everybody! And thanks for the assist, Wordpress!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15254977

chrisco2558y ago

Hacker News does have an impact. Not any one person, but thanks to HN, things like this go viral in the tech community pretty fast.

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