Open Source & More - Blog | Tidelift

What is the rights-ratchet, and why should you care?

Written by Amy Hays | July 15, 2021

One of the most popular talks at Upstream last month explained the rights-ratchet model—and, most importantly, why organizations should care.

How does the model work, exactly? Here’s a quick TL;DR: A company starts out offering a totally free, totally open product; then, as adoption increases, slowly decreases the openness and freeness, what Simon calls “ratchet clicks.”

Open source advocate Simon Phipps shares the whole SugarCRM saga and how you can avoid getting caught in the ratchet in his talk at Upstream. Watch now.