For Approval: The Simplified BSD License

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

David Woolley <forums at david-woolley.me.uk> writes:
> I don't like the word "Simplified". It has connotations of dumbing
> down. I think BSD Licence without Endorsements Clause would be much
> clearer.

You must be one of those people who think "short bus" has connotations
of mental disability...  :)

> > All rights reserved.
> Maybe I don't understand this phrase (IANAL), but it seems to me that
> the whole point of the BSD style licence is to un-reserve many rights!

You will find identical wording in many other OSI-approved licenses,
including the New BSD license and the Apache license.  Unlike the
Berne Convention, the Buenos Aires Convention requires rights to be
explicitly reserved, and until recently there were still juridisctions
where the Buenos Aires Convention applied but the Berne Convention did
not.

> > THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
> CONTRIBUTORS needs defining.

No more so than in the OSI-approved New BSD License, which contains an
identical disclaimer.

Changing the text of the license is not an option, BTW.

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav
Senior Software Developer
Linpro AS - www.linpro.no