SaaS itself is against the spirit of open source, if not the letter of the license. It is the most closed model of providing software, far more closed than closed source binaries. Whether it runs on open source behind the scenes doesn’t matter; your data is controlled by the provider and you have no privacy or ability to run anything on your own terms.
At the very least anyone using open source to run SaaS for profit should be giving something back to the authors of the software. That’s the least they can do given the user hostility of the model as typically implemented.
Open source is stuck in the 90s and has failed to respond to the rise of SaaS or “the new closed.” The big mechanism of restricting freedom now is closed execution, ownership of the network effect, and closed data not closed source. Google could open every bit of their source and nothing would be gained freedom-wise.
SaaS is not software; SaaS is a service. The spirit of free software is giving software away as a gift and a tool for people to use to do whatever they like with it, business included.
Running a service based on free software is absolutely within the spirit of free software. Free software isn't about a circle of gifts, it's about software freedoms. You're not obligated in spirit to "give something back" because you use free software.
Yes it's ok to use OSS to operate your business. That's a sound and intended way of using OSS. Everyone benefits.
No it's not ok to provide a competing product to the very people that you get the core of it from. That's literally stealing if not fraud. At least it is ethically dubious.
I'm not saying it's literally a yes/no decision, but this is the baseline.
I think OSS projects should offer a paid for "integration license" by default.
At the very least anyone using open source to run SaaS for profit should be giving something back to the authors of the software. That’s the least they can do given the user hostility of the model as typically implemented.
Open source is stuck in the 90s and has failed to respond to the rise of SaaS or “the new closed.” The big mechanism of restricting freedom now is closed execution, ownership of the network effect, and closed data not closed source. Google could open every bit of their source and nothing would be gained freedom-wise.