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