license-review mailing list

[Justin Wells]

I'm not sure there is any good way to cover up the fact that the
opensource and free software movement is a collection of individuals
with independent personalities and viewpoints, that sometimes
conflict, rather than a corporation with a marketting department
and project managers.

Understandably, corporations that are used to dealing with project
managers and marketting departments are going to be somewhat shocked
to see the internal politics of the OSS/free-software movement
paraded about in public--but I think that is in fact part of the
OSS/free-software world.

I think what's happening here is better described as culture shock.
We don't act like a corporation, and that's shocking to some people.

  - - -

I also understand that some people simply want to see their license 
commentary, and not bother with the rest. I still haven't heard a 
convincing explanation as to why a threaded web-archive of the list
wouldn't suffice. 

Then ATT (say) wouldn't even have to subscribe to this list: they could 
just submit their license, and then track the discussion on a website. 
This is easier for them (many people don't know how to subscribe to 
a mailing list) and presents the information in a way that makes it 
easy to avoid the stuff they're not interested in.

Since it would be threaded, they would only have to read messages that 
have 

    Subject: ATT License

in the message header, and a web interface makes this convenient. 

I will volunteer to set up the archive if nobody else can do it.

Justin


On Thu, Sep 23, 1999 at 05:29:26AM -0000, bruce at perens.com wrote:
> From: Brian Behlendorf <brian at collab.net>
> > How about instead of changing the list charter (and thus causing those you
> > brought onto this list and are trying to keep here to have to jump yet
> > again) we create another list as an "outlet" for discussions that start
> > here but lose their relevancy to reviewing proposed licenses.
> 
> It would definitely be an improvement.
> 
> Interactions between a particular two people tend to become embarassing.
> Nobody has been successful in policing this particular problem in the year
> or more it's been going on. I am tempted to take the draconian path and say
> that when one of them addresses the other it should go elsewhere, but perhaps
> all we need is for it to go elsewhere any time discussion touches upon personal
> criticism. But whatever policy we decide, I'd invite you to watch carefully.
> 
> 	Thanks
> 
> 	Bruce