[REBOL] Re: Yes, REBOL/Core is still free
From: chris:starforge:demon at: 23-May-2001 10:17
Holger Kruse wrote:
> True. Unfortunately a lot of open-source projects have many contributors,
> making it difficult to even identify a person or group authorized to
> negotiate on behalf of the authors. Linux has had that problem, e.g.
Hmm.. maybe the people involved just haven't had enough experience in
dealing with OSS? For virtually every package I use on Linux I can
identify a contact address, even if that is not the original author
it is possible to track the author down by contacting the current
maintainer. And I'm just one person who only started using Linux
in earnest 6 months ago..
> In real life a the legal department of a company trying to license
> software for inclusion in a commercial product will try to find a
> commercial partner to license from, not a group of hobbyists. Anything else
> is asking for trouble.
Ah, the "companies will only deal with companies" attitude that seems to
grip legal departments like the Black Death. That's what I've always
found rather amusing in a way - they are willing to use the software
these "hobbyists" have written, with none of the rediculous paraphinalia
companies carry around, yet they refuse to actually talk to them about
licensing.
The GPL may have it's problems, by they are nothing against the utter
idiocy and duplicity of lawyers.
>>the GPLed code simply because you can't stick it in a commercial app and
>>forget about the guys who wrote it (like M$ and their TCP stack) is not what
>>I'd expect from a responsible company.
>>
>
> AFAIR Microsoft's TCP stack is based on early BSD code, not covered by GPL.
That's what I meant - Microsoft could do that because the BSD license
does not prevent commercial bodies from dropping the code in a
commercial project and forgetting that it was written by someone else.
The GPL prevents this by either forcing the company to contact the
author to talk terms, or release the code.
> and we are still catching up... Also keep in mind that things are still
> changing. Once the complete product line-up has been released (Command,
> Core/Pro etc.) everything should get more organized :).
Please, I hope so!
Chris
