AWS OpenSearch is now part of Linux Foundation

AWS used to provide Elastic search as a service to its customers. Elastic as a company which is the primary investor and contributor of Elastic search and Kibana considered this as a misuse of their product and changed its license from Apache to Server Side Public License (SSPL) and Elastic License 2.0 (ELv2).

AWS then forked the Elastic search project and named it as OpenSearch. AWS started investing significantly in OpenSearch and contributed a lot to its development and also added many new features including Vector search, Search Analytics, Machine Learning etc. 

Elastic recently announced to change its license to OpenSource AGPL license. This is a great move as their market share was reducing and most of the organizations are switching to OpenSearch. To retain its market share, Elastic changed its license for their products. Though AGPL is an open source license, it is considered to be a strict license and developers have very little freedom. 

Search engine and database is an evolving space and it is growing continuously. AWS wants to build a true open source product. It maintains its license as Apache license. AWS joined hands with Linux Foundation and created OpenSearch Foundation where it will follow the process and practice of Linux Foundation but will be maintained as separate entity. 

AWS, Uber, SAP, Canonical, Digital Ocean, Atlassian have joined as a members of the OpenSearch Foundation. All these organizations will be part of the Governing Board and chair the technical steering committee which will decide the future prospects of the OpenSearch project. 

This is really a great move and really appreciated. AWS did not killed the product but in turn made it as true open source.