License compatibility of MS-PL and MS-CL (Was: (RE: Groklaw's OSI item (was: When will CPAL actually be _used_?))
Zac Bowling
zac at zacbowling.com
Sun Aug 26 07:12:01 UTC 2007
I get what you are saying about the different intents of Ms-CL and
Ms-PL. I was looking at Ms-PL as being lesser then the Ms-CL since
they have a lot of the same text where the Ms-CL only seems to add
more bullet points. If you look at it simply as they are only adding
to it, you don't think they are changing the entire intent of license.
Looking back, all the shared source licences have a similar type of
layout (including all the unnamed varients of the shared source
licences used by different Microsoft projects).
What is confusing is that same line about "any portion of the
software" is used in other shared source licenses including the first
shared source license I can remember, the Rotor project (now the
Shared Source CLI). I've attached a copy of that version of the shared
source license for reference. In that case that same exact section is
used but if what Jim said was true for the Ms-PL, the same exact
phrase means something entirely different for the other licenses.
What it has done for us is more or less confused me, the paralegal at
work, and my laywer.
Zac Bowling
On 8/25/07, Donovan Hawkins <hawkins at cephira.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Aug 2007, Zac Bowling wrote:
>
> > The text about "any portion of the software" is unclear. Does it mean
> > any portion of the combined work or any portion of the original work?
> > Saying "any portion of the software" led us to believe that it was the
> > combined work.
>
> In the very first line you can see that it is a shortening of "the
> accompanying software":
>
> "This license governs use of the accompanying software. If you use the
> software, you accept this license. If you do not accept the license, do
> not use the software."
>
> I don't see anything that would suggest that the meaning changes.
>
>
> > I blogged the issues of using Ms-PL on my blog about a week ago based
> > purely on our combined interpretation.
> > http://zbowling.com/blog/2007/08/14/microsoft-to-make-ms-pl-and-ms-cl-osi-compliant/
>
> Except you don't seem to say anything in your blog that suggests you
> disagree with the interpretation that MS-PL is incompatible with other
> licenses at the source code level. You even make a request to see this
> changed to at least offer MS-CL compatibility, so you apparently agree
> that it is not compatible currently. See below for why that won't happen.
>
>
> > Would it be possible to clarify this in the text of the licence?
>
> It really doesn't seem all that unclear in the text of the MS-PL. I wonder
> if people are just being too optimistic in their readings trying to find
> compatibility where none was intended.
>
> MS-PL is to closed source what GPL is to open source. It ensures that
> downstream closed-source developers will not be hindered by copyleft,
> which therefore excludes compatibility with the MS-CL. This was the stated
> intention of the MS-PL:
>
> "A design goal of the MS-PL is to allow developers to choose to ensure
> that the specific rights in Section (2) continue to be available to
> downstream developers and users through generations of adoption and
> adaptation."
>
>
> Compare that to this quote from the GPL v3 preamble:
>
> "...the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom
> to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains
> free software for all its users."
>
>
> Allowing compatibility with copyleft licenses would take away section 2
> rights from downstream closed-source developers. What you're really asking
> for is the BSDL (although the BSDL is silent regarding patents and could
> probably use a bit of updating in that regard).
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Donovan Hawkins, PhD "The study of physics will always be
> Software Engineer safer than biology, for while the
> hawkins at cephira.com hazards of physics drop off as 1/r^2,
> http://www.cephira.com biological ones grow exponentially."
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
--
Zac Bowling
http://www.zacbowling.com
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