OpenDesk.com License Proposal

[Raymond Luk]

We're looking for feedback on the following proposed license terms for
OpenDesk.com software. Not all terms are included. We intend to re-use
existing paragraphs from various OSI-certified licenses such as GPL/MPL.

Much of the new material is designed to explicitly cover the issue of
server-side applications.

OPENDESK.COM LICENSE PROPOSAL

BACKGROUND
SmartWorker is an application framework and set of mod_perl classes for
building apps.
OpenDesk.com is a collection of SmartWorker applications designed to work
within a Web portal environment.

SMARTWORKER LICENSE
Core technology (SmartWorker) is released under LGPL
* allows applications built on SmartWorker to be released under any license,
free or not
* ensures that the core technology remains free.

OPENDESK.COM PUBLIC LICENSE (ODPL)
This license essentially covers specific SmartWorker applications built for
OpenDesk.com, a free Web application portal. The intent is to protect
OpenDesk.com developers, who want to contribute to a free, Open Source
project. It does this by requiring that any code that modifies or extends
the code covered by this license must also be released under this license.

Proprietary development is still possible by using only source code covered
under the SmartWorker license (LGPL), which allows linking to code covered
by other licenses. In other words, developers can create a proprietary 'fork
' as long as they do not use any source code from the Open Source 'fork'.
SmartWorker, the core technology, is compatible with both.

1) Internal Use - No restrictions.

2) Commercial Use for Private Installations (e.g. installing OpenDesk on an
Intranet)
  a) Modifications to Covered Code must be released under this license.
  b) Extensions to Covered Code (including code that links to it or extends
it) must be released under this license.
  c) A prominent notice must appear stating that the source code is freely
available.

3) Additional Restrictions for Public Installations (e.g. installing
OpenDesk at an Internet Service Provider)
  a) All public installations of OpenDesk.com must pass the OpenDesk.com
Compatibility Test.
  b) Installations of OpenDesk.com which are not compatible are allowed,
however all OpenDesk.com branding must be removed (including the name, logo,
graphics, icons, and colour schemes).

[The requirement for compatibility may raise a few eyebrows because it
sounds like SCSL. However, we do allow for incompatible forking. We simply
require that the branding is changed so it is obvious for end users that
they are using a different version of the software.]


Any feedback would be appreciated.


Raymond Luk
HBE Software Inc.
1030 St-Alexandre, Suite 710
Montreal, Quebec H2Z 1P3
T: (514) 876-7881 F: (514) 876-9223
ray at hbesoftware.com  www.hbesoftware.com

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