ThoughtWorks Adopts Apache Open Source License for Go

A new software project has entered the open source ecosystem, with the goal of helping software developers build and release their software more quickly. The announcement comes from ThoughtWorks, which has transitioned to an Apache 2.0 open source license for its Go platform.

Designed to "break silos" that slow down the time it takes to complete and release software, Go is a "continuous delivery" platform that provides a common space in which different departments within an organization—ranging from coders to business decision-makers to operations managers—can collaborate on software development. (It doesn't have anything to do with Google's Go programming language, by the way.) Go is the next-generation platform of a software delivery platform called Cruise, which ThoughtWorks previously offered.

ThoughtWorks has endorsed open source principles and contributed to various open source projects for some time, but until now, Go was governed by a proprietary license. That changed Feb. 25, when the company switched the product to an Apache 2.0 license—which, though not as virally open source as the GNU GPL license (which generally makes it difficult to combine covered software with any kind of non-open source code), will make sure that the code for Go itself remains open and available to the public, and allow third parties to work with it.

ThoughtWorks's objective in transitioning to an open source license for Go was to make it "part of the standard open source devops toolchain," said Jez Humble, principal consultant at ThoughtWorks. "This will serve our wider goal here at Thoughtworks of making continuous delivery standard practice across the industry."

For the channel, then, this is another lesson in using open source licensing to increase exposure and promote interoperability with other projects. And for open source vendors in particular, the availability of Go in open source form provides a new tool for managing software development that can integrate easily into existing infrastructure.