Constant vigilance is what we all have to do in order to ensure that as more and more organizations recognize that creating, using and contributing to open source technologies brings to them a very large benefit, that there would be some who would do only lip service (or blog service for that matter) about open source being at their core.

This is especially the case in the generative AI space where companies like Meta/FB and others, recognizing the value of labeling their models as open source with the objective of gaining developer interest, but completely pull the rug on what it means to be open source.

Over the pas weekend, Meta/FB released their Llama 4.0 models and, like clockwork, claimed it to be open source. Here’s a post (on LinkedIn, so apologies) by Don Wiggins entitled “The LLaMA 4 Deception: How Meta Hijacked the Open Source Label — and Why It Matters“. Don has done the heavy lifting in explaining the scam Meta/FB is pulling around open source.

What Meta/FB’s model is nothing more than proprietary freeware. Freeware is software that one can use (subject to whatever conditions the provider places on the user) and nothing more. The provider can also revoke usage of the software if it is so defined in the click through agreement with the provider.

Freeware is fine software. It is NOT a negative thing to use freeware – you have already been informed of what you can and cannot do with it.

I look forward to the day when Meta/FB labels of their Llama models as freeware. That is the simple ask. Call it as it is supposed to be and not lie about what it is not.

Consider, Zoom – the video conferencing tool. They have never claimed their products to be open source even though they do acknowledge usage of open source tools and libraries and it is published here. Despite that, Zoom, I repeat, never claimed to be open source.

On my Fedora machine, the configuration file for Zoom is in ~/.config/zoomus.conf. It is readable and I can change the values directly. Zoom does not claim the fact that just because you can change the settings in the config file that it is magically open source – or to put in the parlance of generative AI models, “open weights”.

Open weights DOES NOT make it Llama etc open source. Just as being able to edit the zoomus.conf file does not make Zoom open source.

Let’s keep up the pressure to get Meta/FB et al to relabel their models as freeware. In them meantime, keep calling out their lies.