Open source has come a long way, shaping our software landscape in ways few anticipated. Its role, however, seems to be evolving, highlighted by Meta’s recent move with Llama 2, a powerful large language model.
Meta’s Llama 2: Open Source or Not?
Llama 2, launched by Meta (formerly Facebook), has made waves in the tech community. This large language model, sporting over 70 billion parameters, was opened to the public, diverging from Meta’s earlier approach of limiting its use to research. Yet, Meta attached a significant caveat: Llama 2 cannot be employed for commercial purposes. This has raised questions about whether it truly adheres to the Open Source Definition (OSD), despite being advertised as ‘open source.’
The issue has ruffled feathers among open source advocates. They argue that Llama 2 cannot claim the ‘open source’ tag. Their stance has merit, albeit somewhat pedantic, yet overlooks a significant shift in developer attitudes. Developers have been increasingly inclined towards ‘open enough’ models, as evidenced by their choices on platforms such as GitHub.
Open Source: A Journey Through Time
Over a decade ago, permissive licensing was making headway, prompting RedMonk analyst James Governor to proclaim a post-open source software (POSS) era. This essentially implied disregarding licenses and governance, focusing on committing to GitHub instead. Critics claimed that such trends would lead to disastrous consequences or so-called ‘software-transmitted diseases.’
Contrary to these concerns, unlicensed GitHub repositories did not plunge us into a software licensing crisis. Open source, or ‘open enough’, has found its way into a majority of software, regardless of the licensing terms for end users.
In 2014 efforts by GitHub and similar platforms to encourage developers to opt for open source licenses for their projects were commendable, yet arguably inconsequential. The notion of ‘open source’ had moved away from a counter-corporate rebellion, to a post-open source revolution where software takes center stage, but its licensing is gradually receding into the background.
Open Source in Today’s Context
The argument for open source was never about the license, but about access. Today, many developers focus more on usability than licensing. Open source, similar to cloud technology for hardware, has enhanced accessibility to quality software, reducing dependency on purchasing or legal teams.
When I was at AWS, a survey of developers revealed that their primary criterion for evaluating a cloud provider’s open source leadership was the ease of deploying their preferred open source software in the cloud. The importance of contributing code was secondary. In fact, working on projects that benefitted customers rather than winning community recognition, proved more beneficial.
The Future of Open Source
For today’s developers, the appeal of ‘open source’ is primarily about enhancing productivity and speed. Open source plays a crucial role in rallying around standards, providing easy access to common skills and infrastructure.
The ongoing debates about Llama 2 being ‘open source’ or not are less significant than its actual utility. It offers unrestricted access for virtually the entire developer population. The aim of open source, cloud, open APIs, and solid documentation should be enabling developers to build with less friction and more opportunity. This is the new age of open source, which is more about access and utility than the semantics of its definition.
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