[License-discuss] How can we as a community help empower authors outside license agreements?

[John Cowan]

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 11:39 AM Russell Nelson <nelson at crynwr.com> wrote:


> there is no common ground between Ethical Software (If I don't like you,
> you can't use my software) and Open Source (even if I don't like you, you
> can use my software).
>
Distinguo.

There is *no* inconsistency that I can see between the OSD, which puts
constraints on _licenses_ (except for OSD #2 which mandates source
availability) and the ESD, which I now consider point by point:

ESD #1 is the same as OSD #3.

ESD #2 and #3 constrain the behavior of the developer community, which is
not something regulated by the OSD.

ESD #4-#6 are constraints on what the software does; again, irrelevant to
the OSD.

ESD #7 is just permission to ask for compensation, which is something the
OSD doesn't regulate (OSD #1 prohibits *demanding* compensation) and which
anyone can do anyway.

So it is perfectly possible for software, its license, and its developers
to comply with both the ESD and the OSD.

HOWEVER, AND VERY IMPORTANT:

*None* of the three licenses given as examples of open-source licenses that
meet the ESD are Open Source licenses, as they flatly contravene OSD #1,
and the ESD's footnote concedes as much, except that it says "may or may
not" rather than "does not".  Of course, the term "Open Source" is not
legally restricted, and anyone can use it for any license or software
without legal consequences.  If the common understanding of "Open Source"
has changed to include licenses that do not meet OSD #1, the burden of
persuasion is on the claimant, and that burden has not been met.

Note that I am fully supportive of the position that there may be and are
Open Source licenses, in the sense of meeting the OSD's terms, that are not
OSI Certified (TM).



John Cowan          http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org
Uneasy lies the head that wears the Editor's hat! --Eddie Foirbeis Climo
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org/attachments/20200318/b9f34377/attachment.html>