Re: Non-Compete Challenges for Community Work - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy
| From | Chris Travers |
|---|---|
| Subject | Re: Non-Compete Challenges for Community Work |
| Date | |
| Msg-id | CAKt_ZfsZW=z2rAmKVYX2Br_ZzdnB7qa6dv9PLR1PPP7s4tNy=g@mail.gmail.com Whole thread Raw |
| In response to | Re: Non-Compete Challenges for Community Work (Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>) |
| List | pgsql-advocacy |
Granted it was from another era but when I worked at Microsoft 2001-2003 my noncompete did include requiring permission for open source contributions.
Generally speaking it may still be the case for some proprietary software houses out of fears of IP loss.
Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
Efficito: Hosted Accounting and ERP. Robust and Flexible. No vendor lock-in.
On Thu, Jan 1, 2026, 2:17 AM Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> wrote:
On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 04:59:33PM +0000, Dave Page wrote:
> On Mon, 8 Dec 2025 at 16:57, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 9:54 AM Dave Page <dpage@pgadmin.org> wrote:
> > I don't think she's wrong - I just think the issue is much smaller than
> suggested and that there are likely better places to spend time, effort,
> and money at the moment (such as, I believe, the average age of our
> contributors being on the rise). More and more jurisdictions seem to be
> banning non-competes (or regularly ruling against them) for employees, so
> it seems to me that the problem is slowly going away anyway.
>
> It's all a bit related, though. Older, more established contributors
> are more likely to have leverage that they can use to preserve their
> employment options, or the resources to get through a period of
> unemployment or under-employment. Younger or less well-established
> contributors are more likely to get pushed out of the community by an
> adverse event (such as an employer or ex-employer with a good lawyer).
>
> True, that could definitely be a factor.
I thought about this for a while. I think there are several factors:
* Many people have companies based in jurisdictions that don't enforce
non-competes.
* Many people have not read their employment contracts and will not
find out about non-compete restrictions until they leave their
employer.
* Because broad non-compete restrictions are often unenforceable, newer
non-compete restrictions are more limited, which makes them less of a
problem.
I don't know if things are improving and we can ignore the issue, or if
there is some action that can be taken. Ideas are:
* New employees should read employment contracts and ideally have them
reviewed by an employment lawyer. It might be difficult, but not
being able to find a suitable job for a year is clearly worse.
* Somehow incentivize companies to limit their non-compete restrictions
to be more limited, and hopefully not block community involvement.
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> https://momjian.us
EDB https://enterprisedb.com
Do not let urgent matters crowd out time for investment in the future.
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