The confusing thing to me about Shopify's role in this - assuming this reporting is accurate - is that if they think having a dependency on open source infrastructure like this is an existential threat, then you would think the solution is to do their own work to break that dependency, not to throw their weight around in this public and dramatic way.

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tremon 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

DHH is on Shopify's board: https://www.shopify.com/news/david-heinemeier-hansson-board

That should illuminate their role in all this.

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shadowgovt 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If they can just consolidate control of the supply chain, they don't have to spend the eng-hours replacing their open source dependencies and/or forking them for internal maintenance.

It's the kind of thing that can be the net cheapest option in the long run (see also: Facebook creating and open-sourcing one of the most popular JavaScript interactive-UI frameworks, resulting in them having control of that ecosystem).

	▲	sanderjd 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Seems like a much riskier move to me. Maybe this will just blow over and it will all work out for them, but I wouldn't feel certain of that outcome if I were them. Agreed that if they had created and fully controlled the whole thing from the start, like your Facebook example, that would make more sense. But this aggressive addition of a new owner and removal of existing owners and maintainers seems very hostile and risky to me.