

Ask HN: When an open source project is purchased, who get's the money? - titusblair

I was wondering when an open source project is purchased, who get&#x27;s the money?  Have you ever heard of contributors getting some of the money?  Wouldn&#x27;t that be cool!
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informatimago
You have to define what you mean by "open source" and "project is purchased".
How do you "purchase" a project???

If you buy some open source software, or some free software, the money
obviously goes to the person who sells it.

Free software has a copyright owner. This copyright may be traded. However,
there is little point of purchasing the copyright of free software, since the
only thing that buys you, is the right to distribute the software under a non-
free license. The existing copies are still distribuable under the old free
license. Guess which copies the contributors of free software will continue
contributing to.

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titusblair
For example MySQL and other open source projects, let's say in the future
Hadoop is acquired, who get's the money?

