[License-review] For Approval: OpenMDW License Agreement, versions 1.1 (OpenMDW-1.1)

[McCoy Smith]

On 8/28/2026 2:15 PM, Michael Dolan wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 5:06 PM Richard Fontana via License-review 
> <license-review at lists.opensource.org> wrote:
>
>
>     Yes. Incidentally, the OSI should bear in mind that OpenMDW-1.1
>     functions as a "plain old software license" because it is designed in
>     part to be used for software. I might view it somewhat differently if
>     it was presented as, say, a "weights license" only (perhaps submitted
>     as a special sort of "AI license" under what I gather was contemplated
>     when the OSAID was adopted). I don't think the OSI should be
>     classifying this as an "AI license" and adopting some new, presumably
>     looser, standard of approval for it based on that classification. It
>     is by design not a license just for models in a narrow sense, it is a
>     license for code as well as other stuff. If it is approved, someone
>     could conceivably use it in a completely non-AI-related context
>     involving just code.
>
>
> Richard, this is a good point, and I'd like to expand on it a bit. 
> OpenMDW-1.1 was submitted for review as a software license, under the 
> same standard as any other license OSI has reviewed. We are not asking 
> for an AI-specific classification or a looser OSD interpretation. Your 
> observation about non-AI reuse is correct and by design: inference 
> code, preprocessing tools, or other software licensed under 
> OpenMDW-1.1 as part of one release can be extracted and reused by 
> developers with entirely different model weights that are under other 
> licenses, or with no model at all. Each component published under the 
> license carries the OpenMDW grant, and the license needs to work as a 
> plain software license in that very scenario.
>
For AI licenses, OSI doesn't have looser or stricter standards; they are 
evaluated against both OSD https://opensource.org/osd as with any 
license, and the OSAID 
https://opensource.org/ai/open-source-ai-definition which is applicable 
to licenses designed to be used on AI. Beyond that, the evaluation is 
the same.

If, for whatever reason, people believe there should be other tests 
(like "advancing software freedom" or "Freedom Zero"), I'd be interested 
in hearing that (although several have already advanced those), but in 
order for the Board to understand what those tests are and how to apply 
them to licenses, I think we'd need to hear specificity on how to apply 
those tests in practice (both against the recently submitted AI 
licenses: ModelGo-Zero, ModelGo-Attribution, and OpenMDW-1.1, as well as 
against future licenses). I'd also like to understand if those tests are 
equally applicable to non-AI licenses, and if not, why not.
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