Change ot topic, back to OVPL

[Russell Nelson]

Chuck Swiger writes:
 > Russell Nelson wrote:
 > > Chuck Swiger writes:
 > >> Can you point to a posting on freebsd-questions, or netbsd-help, or
 > >> one of the other BSD mailing lists (or on Usenet) where someone had
 > >> a significant problem resulting from the BSD license term
 > >> variations in libc, libm, etc?
 > > 
 > > No, of course not!  That's why I suggest that you talk to more people
 > > (sheesh).
 > 
 > If you have a point to make, please state it directly.

I refer specifically to BlackDuck's claim that there are hundreds of
variants of licenses.  Now, maybe they're just blowing their own horn,
but if they expect to be able to convince lawyers that their product
is valuable, they'll need to start from a legally defensible position.

But more generally, most hackers don't take licensing very seriously.
If it looks like the BSD license, they're going to take it as the BSD
license.  Your evidence that there's not a problem is not evidence of
the absence of a problem; merely the absence of concern about a
problem.  Other people have been telling us that licenses are deadly
serious, and that each additional license imposes a cost of tens of
thousands of dollars.

It's easy to be Cavalier with other people's money.  Politicians do it
all the time.  You can also take the point of "Well, it's a gift.
Don't look a gift license in the mouth."  But that's besides the
point.  People who are giving away open source software typically are
not doing it to make a gift of their effort to the world.  They're
doing it to get a return on their risk and effort.  Without meaning to
be overly cynical, people who give away their software expect
improvements in return.  If they don't get those improvements, they'll
be disappointed.

It is part of OSI's mission to help people be successful in their open
source endeavours.  That means .... helping people to choose a license
appropriate for their needs.  Sometimes it means helping them craft
the best possible license.  If I am guilty of being extra-grumpy in
Alex's direction, it is only because I want him to have the best
license --as I see it--.

I've spoken to some people from large enterprises.  They're getting
tired of all these licenses, and at some point they're going to put
their foot down and say "Okay, that's it!  If you want us to use your
software, you'd better use a license we've already approved, because
frankly, your software isn't worth its license."

-- 
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