a proposed change to the OSD

[Russell Nelson]

Lawrence E. Rosen writes:
 > the courts are clear about the importance of such notices for
 > contract formation.

What attributes of a license make a contract necessary?  I know that
you need a contract to disclaim warranties, but I'm not sure that it's 
necessary to disclaim a warranty on a gift.

 > I'll change my mind about this only after you succeed in changing
 > the law.

That's what I'm trying to do.  I have mostly contempt for legislators,
but judges and lawyers form law in a much wiser manner.  There isn't
an awful lot of precedent in regards the distribution of free
software, and what precedent exists is only on a District level.  I
believe that, by codifying existing practice, we can change the law --
or at least affect judge's decisions.

At the end of the day, Larry, the community doesn't want to use
software for which it has to contract to use.  Since it's our job as
an industry advocacy group to encourage the production and use of open 
source software, it's our responsibility to tell the producers of open 
soruce that the users of open source aren't going to contract for its
use.

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