I'm Bashar Astifan, not a software engineer nor paid developer

but a community developer who is helping to provide solutions for users not platforms

diving into the sea of opensource stuff to build hope

I build solutions and critic things that I see it wrong

if you're new or young listen to me:

• Quasi-Monopolies: Despite the theoretical openness, most successful projects remain dominated by their original creators. Forks rarely gain the traction needed to compete, resulting in quasi-monopolistic scenarios where the "open" community is anything but.
• Branding and Community Power: The original source projects hold a stranglehold on community support and brand recognition, making it nearly impossible for alternative forks to succeed.

• Prohibitive Costs: Enforcing GPL and other open source licenses is not just difficult; it’s prohibitively expensive. Small developers and startups often lack the resources to pursue legal action, rendering the license virtually useless in protecting their interests.
• Arbitrary Enforcement: There exists a troubling pattern of selective enforcement, where only potentially competitive forks are targeted. This undermines the very principle of fairness and equality that open source purportedly champions.

• Limited Reach: Open source licenses rely heavily on copyright law, which is not uniformly recognized or enforced worldwide. Outside the United States, these licenses often lose their teeth entirely, leaving projects vulnerable to exploitation.
• Absence of Central Authority: The lack of a global overseeing body means that enforcement is inconsistent at best, and nonexistent at worst. Developers operating in less stringent jurisdictions can easily bypass these licenses with little consequence.

• Forced Transparency: The requirement to disclose derivative works forces developers to expose proprietary innovations, acting as a deterrent to using open-source code in the first place. This stifles creativity and innovation in an ironic twist against the very ethos of open source.
• Competitive Handicap: Organizations, especially smaller ones, find themselves at a severe disadvantage when obligated to reveal modifications publicly, thus handing over their competitive edge.

While open source licenses like the GPL are often celebrated for fostering collaboration and transparency, a deeper examination reveals a litany of issues that can severely hamper true innovation. The dominance of original sources, difficulty in enforcement, jurisdictional limitations, and the risk of unwanted exposure make these licenses more of a liability than a benefit.