[kmself at ix.netcom.com: Re: We are looking for an open source license that...]

[Bruce Dodson]

>From: Chris F Clark <cfc at world.std.com>
>It is more to discourage commercial users from using the open source 
>version. [CFC]

I don't know if you're going to see much support here for a license that 
"discourages" use of the open source version, by any particular group.  We 
want to encourage the use of open source, not only by those who are already 
using it, but also by newcomers.


>However, we do not wish to deprive open source developers the bounty of our 
>labor and have no qualms their using our tool to build open source programs 
>that they give away. [CFC]

What you seem to be suggesting is what FSF calls "semi-free".
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/categories.html#semi-freeSoftware

Then by protecting your revenue stream, you would be depriving us of the 
full bounty of our own own labors.  Use of your software would be a "poison 
pill", that prevents us from selling the the open source programs that we 
build.  (Some of us will never sell our software, but all of us, and all of 
our licensees, retain that option.)


>We make a certain profit by being the sole provider of this software and we 
>cannot afford to have that revenue stream dry up completely. [CFC]

You can't hold onto your custodianship of this technology through licensing 
restrictions.  If you open-source your technology, there are two ways to 
keep ownership of the project: (1) adopt a cooperative attitude; work with 
the community while continuing to maintain yourself as the leader in this 
technology.  (2) hope that no one else is interested in it.

Netscape has done it right with Mozilla.org.  Borland/Interbase has not, and 
so there is Firebird.


>...Rational Rose... [CFC]

If Rational started giving away Rose "gratis" for open source development, 
while still maintaining it as non-open software (whether that is by "closed 
source", "shared source", "semi-free"), I believe it could hurt the open 
source community, since it could take mindshare away from legitimate open 
source CASE projects like ArgoUML.


-bruce


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