For Approval: Educational Community License

Russell Nelson nelson at crynwr.com
Mon Aug 30 19:31:16 UTC 2004


Wheeler, Bradley C. writes:
 > By obtaining, using
 > and/or copying this Original Work, you agree that you have read,
 > understand, and will comply with the following terms and conditions of
 > the Educational Community License: [2. Source Code is Provided]

 > Permission to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and
 > sublicense this Original Work and its documentation, with or without
 > modification, for any purpose, and without fee or royalty to the
 > copyright holder(s) is hereby granted,

We don't approve licenses that put restrictions on use.  Copyright law
doesn't allow you to restrict the use to which someone puts a copy
that they have lawfully received.  Only a contract can do that.  There
are many nasty things that a licensor could require of users in a
contract, none of which are restricted by the OSD.  It seems clear to
me that this license is meant to form a contract ("By using [...] you
agree").  Same for restrictions on modification and merge.

So, no go.  Sorry it took so long for me to notice that.

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