[License-discuss] Open source license chooser choosealicense.com launched.

[Richard Fontana]

On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 11:10:52AM -0400, Pamela Chestek wrote:
> On 8/17/2013 9:38 PM, Richard Fontana wrote:
> 
>     Speaking just for myself, it is difficult for me to imagine any
>     license chooser or license explanation site that I wouldn't think was
>     more problematic than useful. Linking to a *wide* variety of license
>     choosers or summary sites with a very strong caveat emptor statement
>     might be okay.
> 
> Because you are so intimately familiar with the licenses and know every feature
> and blemish, so you seek the perfect when maybe we should only aspire to the
> better-than-nothing. Maybe not; I read your slides and take your point that
> "nothing" isn't really all that scary. 

I really believe it is best for anyone to try to read the actual
license in question. A summary can be a reasonable starting point, but
it especially bothers me if it is distorted (as I think it may almost
always be) by political or cultural bias. Also, if a license is really
too difficult to understand, that is itself useful (for the would-be
licensor and for the license steward) to find out. 

- RF