So I have a new word to add to my open-source lexicon: source-open (reference). It’s when you start an open-source company and back-pedal on your original license when you reach a certain critical mass.
I’ve been generally pleased with the work done by the Aptana folks as they have done some really cool stuff around the web development space in Eclipse. Aptana is also helping out with the new Eclipse Babel project which is cool as Eclipse eventually needs a nice globalization/internationalization infrastructure.
What’s not so cool is that the new Aptana Public License specifically blocks against redistribution which is going to hurt Eclipse community members like EasyEclipse and Yoxos who ship Eclipse distros (this also includes Linux distros). This in the end, eventually hurts the Eclipse community at large.
The thing that bugs me about this is that it wasn’t even really announced to the public. If you check the Aptana blog… there’s no mention of the license change. If you’re an “open-source” company and are going to change your license, please share it with all your community members at least. Open source communities are more understanding when they are kept in the loop.