Two new licenses - OVPL & OVLPL

Bruce Perens bruce at perens.com
Sun Apr 10 17:10:40 UTC 2005


I haven't looked at this for OSD compliance, but am making a comment on 
the covenant between you and the outside developers. Is your intention 
to vend an _enhanced_ version of the software that is not Open Source 
while you work on a "community" version as well, or do you only wish to 
continue to fulfill the needs of proprietary licensees for the exact 
same program? IMO the asymetrical relationship that occurrs when the 
initial developer vends a proprietary "super" version which also mixes 
in outside contributions doesn't attract developers very well. They have 
no desire to be second-class citizens.

If that is not your intent, I would suggest that you balance the 
relationship while retaining the ability to service your proprietary 
customers. In the initial developer grant, include a promise that as 
long as you are using the subsequent contributions in a proprietary 
version, that you will also release the same program under an 
OSI-certified Open Source license.

    Thanks

    Bruce



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