### " ... the obvious meaning for the expression 'open source software' is 'You can look at the source code.'"
Richard Stallman
---
I learned by 2004 that Silicon Valley was up to no good. I wound up playing World of Warcraft for years simply because no one I knew actually wanted to create quality software for people without abusive hidden agendas.
At that time, me and everyone I knew understood open source to just mean "the source code is available". This is coming from someone who spent 6.5 years at Yahoo! utilizing open source software every day of my life. I programmed using emacs and Linux. My servers ran on FreeBSD and Linux. The software I wrote was enjoyed by tens of millions of people around the world and I had quite enjoyed just making good stuff. I had no idea the OSI even existed.
After years of WoW, LoL, random gigs, and personal programming pursuits, I started putting the concept of FUTO together around 2017. The goal of FUTO was to remedy the abuses of big tech through software development. The primary tenet being that the people need to be in control of the computers they own, not companies and governments. None of my friends in Silicon Valley were interested.
While conceptualizing FUTO, my first thought was always "Why hasn't open source solved this problem?" Billions of people have access to the programming tools now yet the problem is getting worse.
After moving to Austin, and in the aftermath of some gross abuses by the Tech Oligopoly, I finally started finding people who also cared about solving the problem in 2021. Perhaps I should have found them sooner but I find WoW more fun than networking at alcohol parties. I still had never heard of the OSI or knew about their definition.
We started out by making substantial grants to open source projects and funding open source companies. It's fair to say we got bad results. I determined that I could pour everything including my last penny into external open source projects and still barely make progress solving the problem.
We've since pivoted to building software internally. FUTO now exists to make things good for programmers who want to create non-abusive software. We're getting better results.
We launched [Grayjay](https://grayjay.app) in 2023 October and all of a sudden I learn all about the OSI and semantic arguments going on in the "open source community". Many people feel like we have mislead them. I can assure you that was never our intention.
I still believe that "open source" applies to what we're doing, and I know that many agree with me. However, I also understand that there are some who disagree. While I regret any miscommunication on our part, I don't think the OSI should have continued to pretend like they owned the term after they lost their trademark. They should have pivoted to a new term that they could trademark if they wanted to behave this way. The OSI is wrong and it is they who have mislead people.
We have also determined that "open source", by itself, isn't working. The problems created by the Tech Oligopoly are getting worse. I know FUTO will fail if we abide by the OSI's definition. I'm actually not even sure if the OSI's goals align with our goals given how the Tech Oligopoly influences their decision making.
Hence we have to go our own way even though we love and are allied with open source advocates: [The Source First Definition](https://gitlab.futo.org/eron/public/-/wikis/The-Source-First-Definition). Everything we do is open source, but we need to avoid perceptions of being dishonest (even if those perceptions are incorrect).
\ No newline at end of file
### " ... the obvious meaning for the expression 'open source software' is 'You can look at the source code.'"
Richard Stallman
---
I learned by 2004 that Silicon Valley was up to no good. I wound up playing World of Warcraft for years simply because no one I knew actually wanted to create quality software for people without abusive hidden agendas.
At that time, me and everyone I knew understood open source to just mean "the source code is available". This is coming from someone who spent 6.5 years at Yahoo! utilizing open source software every day of my life. I programmed using emacs and Linux. My servers ran on FreeBSD and Linux. The software I wrote was enjoyed by tens of millions of people around the world and I had quite enjoyed just making good stuff. I had no idea the OSI even existed.
After years of WoW, LoL, random gigs, and personal programming pursuits, I started putting the concept of FUTO together around 2017. The goal of FUTO was to remedy the abuses of big tech through software development. The primary tenet being that the people need to be in control of the computers they own, not companies and governments. None of my friends in Silicon Valley were interested.
While conceptualizing FUTO, my first thought was always "Why hasn't open source solved this problem?" Billions of people have access to the programming tools now yet the problem is getting worse.
After moving to Austin, and in the aftermath of some gross abuses by the Tech Oligopoly, I finally started finding people who also cared about solving the problem in 2021. Perhaps I should have found them sooner but I find WoW more fun than networking at alcohol parties. I still had never heard of the OSI or knew about their definition.
We started out by making substantial grants to open source projects and funding open source companies. It's fair to say we got bad results. I determined that I could pour everything including my last penny into external open source projects and still barely make progress solving the problem.
We've since pivoted to building software internally. FUTO now exists to make things good for programmers who want to create non-abusive software. We're getting better results.
We launched [Grayjay](https://grayjay.app) in 2023 October and all of a sudden I learn all about the OSI and semantic arguments going on in the "open source community". Many people feel like we have mislead them. I can assure you that was never our intention.
I still believe that "open source" applies to what we're doing, and I know that many agree with me. However, I also understand that there are some who disagree. While I regret any miscommunication on our part, I don't think the OSI should have continued to pretend like they owned the term after they lost their trademark. They should have pivoted to a new term that they could trademark if they wanted to behave this way. The OSI is wrong and it is they who have mislead people.
We have also determined that "open source", by itself, isn't working. The problems created by the Tech Oligopoly are getting worse. I know FUTO will fail if we abide by the OSI's definition. I'm actually not even sure if the OSI's goals align with our goals given how the Tech Oligopoly influences their decision making.
Hence we have to go our own way even though we love and are allied with open source advocates: [The Source First Definition](https://gitlab.futo.org/eron/public/-/wikis/The-Source-First-Definition). Everything we do is open source, but we need to avoid perceptions of being dishonest (even if those perceptions are incorrect).
Update 2025 Aug 18: Nothing has really changed, other than the realization that those attacking FUTO for "open washing" were not acting in good faith. I do not believe they care at all about actually solving the problems that FUTO has set out to solve. It does not make sense for us to "accept the premises of assholes" here.
