Open source plays an integral role in today’s world, yet organizations’ decisions to make license changes continue to raise concerns in the community with fears that we are moving away from the initial fundamental values. The Linux Foundation recently announced that it will host Valkey, an open source alternative to the Redis in-memory, NoSQL data store. Valkey is backed by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Oracle, Ericsson and Snap. In this video recorded at the Open Source Summit North America 2024 in Seattle, David Nalley, Director of Open Source Strategy and Marketing at AWS, discusses the transition of Redis to Valkey at the Linux Foundation. He also talks about AWS’ involvement in open source and why it plays such a crucial role for the company. He says, “At the end of the day, open source is about collaboratively solving problems and not having to reinvent the wheel every time we need to accomplish something.”

Open-source project Redis and its transition to Valkey, a new project at the Linux Foundation

• Open source is anchored in people collaborating to solve problems, not reinventing the wheel.
• Nalley explains the transition of the open-source project Redis to Valkey at the Linux Foundation. He talks about the community-driven nature of the fork following the license change that did not meet the open source definition.
• Nalley discusses AWS’ decision to support the Valkey project, driven by valuing their customers’ needs and aligning with the community’s choice.
• Nalley talks about AWS’ role in this project in terms of allocating development resources and supporting the move to LF. He shares some of the key points to come out of Valkey on stage at the Open Source Summit North America.

Redis fork Valkey’s development and future plans

• Before the license change, the community had a lot of features on the roadmap that the community wanted to see through. However, Nalley does not feel that it will be focused on what Redis is doing even though it is open to collaboration in the future, accepting portions or all of the code.

Open source trends, license changes, and their impact on contributors and companies

• Nalley expresses concerns about companies changing open-source licenses without consulting contributors, highlighting the potential impact on the open-source community and contributors’ disenfranchisement.
• Nalley discusses the challenges of running a business in open source and balancing creating open source software with your product, citing the long-term impacts of the collaborative nature of open source.
• Forking is not a new mechanism, it is a relief valve that open source has built in.
• Nalley talks through the three key reasons why open source is important to AWS: it underpins its foundational services, meets customer demands for open-source tools, and reflects a shared responsibility to the broader ecosystem.

Open source licensing and its impact on business

• Although organizations are resorting to license changes to address business changes, Nalley highlights the importance of understanding the history of the open source and free software movements,  referencing the four freedoms.
• Nalley acknowledges the role of licenses in addressing copyright concerns but emphasizes the importance of open source accessibility and community support.
• Nalley suggests exploring alternative licensing approaches to ensure open source remains inclusive and aligned with its collaborative ethos.

Guest: David Nalley (LinkedIn)
Company: AWS (Twitter)
Show: Let’s Talk

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.