As a software developer, it can be incredibly frustrating when the tools and technologies we rely on suddenly change in ways that make them less desirable or even unusable. Unfortunately, this is exactly what has happened with AKKA, a popular toolkit for building highly concurrent, distributed, and fault-tolerant applications in Scala.

Until recently, AKKA was available under the Apache 2.0 license, which is a permissive open-source license that allows for broad use and modification of the software. However, in August of 2021, Lightbend, the company behind AKKA, announced that they were changing the license to a proprietary license with a restrictive clause that prohibits companies from offering commercial support for the software.

This change has understandably caused a lot of concern and frustration among Scala developers who have come to rely on AKKA for their projects. For many developers, the move to a proprietary license is a step backwards for the Scala community and could limit the growth and adoption of AKKA.

Why is Akka licensing changing?
Akka requires significant investment in order to maintain its position as a preeminent distributed systems runtime. Many organizations have adopted Akka and are seeing significant benefits for their organizations🤑.

But beyond the licensing concerns, there are practical reasons why developers may want to consider migrating away from AKKA. For one, the move to a proprietary license means that developers will have to rely on Lightbend for support and updates, which could be a costly and time-consuming process. Furthermore, the new license could limit the ability of developers to customize the software to meet their specific needs, which could be a significant hindrance to innovation and creativity.

Another factor to consider is that AKKA is not the only option for building highly concurrent, distributed, and fault-tolerant applications in Scala. There are other frameworks and toolkits available such as Monix, ZIO and Cats Effect, which offer similar functionality and are available under more permissive licenses.

Of course, migrating away from AKKA is not an easy decision to make. Many developers have invested a lot of time and energy into learning and using the toolkit, and may have built large-scale applications that rely on AKKA. However, in light of the recent licensing change and the practical concerns it raises, it may be a good idea for developers to explore alternative options and consider migrating away from AKKA.

What to say... the recent licensing change for AKKA is a sad and frustrating development for the Scala community. The move to a proprietary license could limit the growth and adoption of the toolkit, and could make it more difficult for developers to use and customize the software. While migrating away from AKKA is not an easy decision, it may be a necessary one for developers who want to avoid the risks and limitations of the new license.

In a next article I will provide some examples of using some of this toolkit alternatives, see you next time and thanks for reading.