Definition of open source

Alan Rihm alan at centraview.com
Sun Nov 7 22:58:37 UTC 2004


Rick, I'm not sure why there is so much anger in the room ("I smell a
second rat in this conversation"...that is just ignorant). I believe in
open source based on today's terms. It got us here after all, but surely
it is healthy to discuss alternative views. You don't have to agree, but
you also don't have to be rude.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Moen [mailto:rick at linuxmafia.com] 
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2004 5:02 PM
To: license-discuss at opensource.org
Subject: Re: Definition of open source


Quoting James Harrell (jharrell at copernicusllc.com):
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> Unfortunately I doubt that the OS Definition is up for debate or 
> revision. OS is like religion and politics <grin>. Every side is 
> "right" because it is a belief and point of view, not a science. So 
> perhaps the time has come to for a collaborative new organization for 
> Commercial Open Source?

On reflection:

I smell a second rat in this conversation, and its name is Copernicus
Business Systems, LLC, http://www.copernicusllc.com/  Here is what this
company, of which Mr. Harrell turns out to be CEO and VP of Operations,
deceptively proclaims on http://www.copernicusllc.com/products/source/
to be an "open source" licence.  (This is the LICENSE.txt from the Oct.
13, 2004 release of the Miva Script Binary Utilities package.)

So, Mr. Harrell, your firm aspires to the same parasitic relationship to
genuine open source that Mr. Rihm's does, eh?




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will not copy the Software except as permitted in Section 1; (2) it will
not reproduce, deactivate, or bypass any security device supplied with
the Software; (3) it will preserve and respect Licensor's copyright and
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and Customer will not disclose or transfer or otherwise provide to any
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