For Approval: Microsoft Permissive License

[John Cowan]

Chris DiBona scripsit:

> OSI should not trade on its reputation lightly. Again, this is not a
> discussion about licenses but whether or not it is wise for OSI to
> enable its most vicious competitor.

When Abraham Lincoln announced to his cabinet after the Civil War that he
intended to forgive the Southerners and do whatever he could to restore
the South, his Secretary of State objected, saying, "Mr. President, I
think we ought to destroy our enemies." Lincoln answered him this way:
"Mr. Secretary, do we not destroy our enemies when we make them our
friends?"

A later U.S. President also said, "Trust, but verify."

-- 
John Cowan   cowan at ccil.org    http://ccil.org/~cowan
The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand
on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability.
Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land,
to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions.
        --Thomas Henry Huxley