Public domain software is not open-source?

[Tzeng, Nigel H.]

>Q.  Is Public Domain software also "Open Source"?

>Not really, since it is not under an OSD-approved license.  However, 
>truly public domain software can always be made available under an OSD 
>compliant license, so in practice the issue is moot.

I would rephrase to something like (assuming I'm correct):

Public Domain software, when the source code is available, meets all of the OSD requirements but it isn't under a OSI approved Open Source license since there is no license.   However, public domain software can be re-used under an OSD compliant license, so in practice the issue is moot.



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org/attachments/20080303/401265a7/attachment.html>