[License-discuss] objective criteria for license evaluation

[Luis Villa]

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:03 AM, Tzeng, Nigel H. > If you really want
to present a neutral "Popular/Widely Used/Strong" list
> then use one developed from actual metrics of what is widely used.  The
> OSRC one is the one I typically refer to.  You'd want to remove the
> non-OSI approved licenses off that list.
>
> http://osrc.blackducksoftware.com/data/licenses/
>
> If you don't like that data set then pick another comprehensive data set
> to base the widely used list on.

As previously suggested, the issue of replacing the existing "by
categories" groupings is an extremely fraught one and one that I think
will require an extremely long-term discussion to address.

That said, there is clearly interest in having objective criteria of
some sort, either to replace or to supplement the current criteria. I
thank Nigel for not just saying that, but actually providing a
specific example :)

So, here's another call for discussion:

What objective, factual criteria would you use to supplement or
replace the current categories?

Ideally, suggestions for criteria would include either:

1) a reliable third-party data source (like the blackduck survey Nigel
pointed to) or

2) suggestions on how to gather the data. This need not be
super-practical, but of course suggestions that require OSI to build
software or hire data-analysts (or conjure volunteers to build *and
maintain* those things) will be harder to implement. :)

Unlike the other thread, when this thread wraps up/peters out, there
won't be any immediate action taken. But if there are good suggestions
I think they'll feed a lot of people's long-term thinking, and
(perhaps) in the medium term they could be used to supplement to the
current categories.

Luis