[H-GEN] re: OpenSolaris

[James C. McPherson]

Hi Ben,
comments/responses inline below

Benjamin Carlyle wrote:
...
> My main concerns about having multiple non-GPL licenses are weakened by
> this sledgehammer of illumination, but they still exist. I still see the
> introduction of each new open source license as a vile sin. 

Ah, now you see that's where you move from advocacy into religion.

I do not accept that the choice of an appropriate license for a
product should be religious.

I used to be a linux-bigot and recommended it and purely GPLd
software at every turn. At some point I realised that this was
an inappropriate attitude to have and espouse, because it does
not meet everybody's needs -- it's an all black and white way
of looking at a world which most definitely includes shades of
grey.

> What Sun
> should have been doing instead is attempting to use or create a new
> version of an existing license. 

Didn't you read the part which said that the CDDL is a derivative of
the MPL?


> The most important thing as far as I am
> concerned is that Sun gets more than just Sun on board with this new
> license. I have no objections to the CDDL if it is one of three or four
> common open source license. 


This comes back to my point above -- there are a lot more shades
of grey in this world, and trying to cram everything into 1, 2,
3 or 4 licenses just isn't going to work because everybody who
writes software, assembles solutions and has any need to do anything
with computers will find that there is nothing that fits best.


 > As it is, I just don't see it becoming one
> of the top three any time soon. Get mozilla.org on board with the new
> license. Get IBM on board. Then we can talk. Until then, drop the C and
> call it the "Sun Development and Distribution License".

(Note, I _never_ speak for Sun)

Becoming one of the top X OSS licenses was never one of the goals
of writing the CDDL. The goal of the CDDL was and is to provide the
best possible legal framework under which Sun can release OpenSolaris.

I find it interesting that you suggest Sun should get IBM "on board"
with the CDDL -- what is the point in that? The CDDL is the license
for OpenSolaris -- Sun doesn't need any other group to be "on board"
with the license except for OSI.

The use of the word "Common" in the title of the license does not
in any way imply that Sun wants the license to become the be-all
and end-all of licenses. There is another implication to the use
of the word "Common" which I'll leave as an exercise to the reader...


best regards,
James C. McPherson
--
Pacrim PTS Engineer            828 Pacific Highway
                                Gordon NSW
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