APL license - What about the enforced logos?

[Ajeet Narayan]

Dear all,

thanks for the constructive discussion of my original post.

After having read all the pertinent answers from the more experienced
people of this list, I understand that APL is not a valid Open Source
license approved by the OSI. Can you please confirm that my
understanding is valid?

It is my view that if ALFRESCO is not ready to comply to the
guidelines of OSI, then I suggest it explains this with a disclaimer
on its website to avoid misunderstandings. It is obvious that many
people may decide to use ALFRESCO just because it is presented wrongly
as an Open Source Software.

As far as the obligation to present a disclaimer in every GUI is
concerned, I need to make the following comments:
a. if I want to use parts of the code and deliver a solution using
_my_own_ GUIs I do not see why I have to include such an embarassing
disclaimer in every screen of my application. The "message" to my
users/clients would be that "they should not trust my solution and
rather go to ALFRESCO itself which does a better job"! This is against
the spirit of OSS and the interests of the OSS community.
b. if I want to deliver a global solution using ALFRESCO (or parts of
it) I fail to see why I have to say to the users of my solution (which
can be supported my own organization and under my own responsibility)
that the solution I offer "is not ALFRESCO and that it is not
supported by ALFRESCO". I do not want my clients to make a decision on
the basis of "who doesn't support", but rather on the basis of "who
does support" a proposed solution. It is clear that there are many IT
firms in the world which have the necessary skills and resources to
support any solution using ALFRESCO or parts of it, in some occasions,
even better than ALFRESCO Inc. itself.

I believe it is in the interest of the community to remove such
clauses if ALFRESCO wants to call their product Open Source.


thanks