S.10 Ep.7 Prosperous Software: Rethinking Open Source Funding Through Licensing

New @greenpillnet pod out today! 🌐

In this episode of the Greenpill Podcast, Kevin Owocki talks with Raymond Cheng software engineer, researcher, and co-founder of Open Source Observer — about the Prosperous Software Movement and why open source licensing needs to evolve.

Raymond explains how today's open source economy underfunds its own foundations, why existing licenses fail to reflect modern financial realities, and how a new class of revenue-sharing licenses could sustainably fund open source dependencies.
They explore the history of free software, the limits of voluntary public goods funding, the idea of "ProfitLeft" licensing, and how legal, technical, and social mechanisms including crypto could help open source creators share in the prosperity they generate.

A must-listen for anyone building, funding, or relying on open source software in Web3 and beyond.

Some of the materials we mention in the episode:
https://tally.so/r/68LGdO 
https://pgf.ing/chat 

🌱 greenpill.network
@owocki 
@greenpillnet
@RaymondCheng00

 Timestamps 

00:00 – Welcome to the Greenpill Podcast
01:00 – Introducing Raymond Cheng & Open Source Observer
02:45 – The problem: funding open source sustainably
04:30 – Why public goods funding has hit its limits
06:10 – The history of free software & open source licenses
08:10 – Open source as the bedrock of the global economy
10:30 – Why current licenses ignore financial reality
12:10 – Introducing the Prosperous Software Movement
14:00 – Why licensing is a core lever of power
16:00 – Preserving open source freedoms while adding funding
18:30 – "ProfitLeft" vs traditional commercial licenses
20:30 – How revenue-sharing licenses could work
22:45 – Crypto, smart contracts & enforceability
24:50 – Legal, technical & social power combined
26:45 – Building a founding cohort of projects
28:30 – Call to action: how to get involved
30:00 – Long-term vision: prosperity for open source
31:30 – Zero-to-one adoption challenges
33:00 – Closing thoughts & where to follow Raymond