A hobbyist software license that promotes maintainer happiness through personal interactions. Non-human legal entities such as corporations and agencies aren't allowed to participate.
Sometimes I write software just for fun, and in those situations I want a license that reinforces my goal. Sharing and collaborating with other people can be very rewarding, but it can also turn stressful and demanding. My intention is that by prohibiting people using this software as part of their job, I can filter out many of these negative interactions, and focus on collaborating with people who share my motivations. It's not a perfect discriminator, but I think its worth a shot.
The Human Software License is not non-commercial, and is not trying to address issues of fairness, freedom, or ethics. My motivation here is strictly selfish: optimize for own enjoyment while hacking on software. In practice, this probably aligns closest with anti-licenses that use weird terms and scare away legal departments. In contrast, I'm trying to achieve a similar effect by using clear and enforceable language.
This license was created by myself, a software engineer with no legal guidance, for use with my own personal projects. It follows the Normally Open License Template from Kyle E. Mitchell, which is in turn heavily based off the Blue Oak Model License. You're welcome to use it for your own projects, if you think that's a good idea.
back to mozz.us