[H-GEN] re: OpenSolaris

James C. McPherson James.McPherson at Sun.COM
Mon Feb 14 14:53:40 EST 2005


Benjamin Carlyle wrote:
...[snipping lots!]...
> The CDDL isn't simply a derivation. It's a fork. Unless it is widely
> seen as a successor of the original license it becomes just another
> license (number 58) for everyone to wrap their brains around. Unless Sun
> and Mozilla.org are going to get together and agree to both use the CDDL
> for future work (and to also give it the name "Mozilla Public License
> v2") there is little to be gained by its relationship to the MPL. It's
> just number 58 in the list of OSI-approved licenses. What's worse, it
> has inherited the MPL's length and complexity, meaning we probably won't
> understand its full ramifications for years.
..
> I don't think there are as many shades of grey in open source as there
> are OSI-approved licenses (fifty-eight!). I don't believe every one is
> unique in its purpose and function. I do not advocate a single open
> source license (unless it is a "checkbox" licenses that actually
> represents a family of licenses based on and understood foundation, such
> as creative commons). I believe we should have exactly as many licenses
> are there are genuinely unique requirements for distributors. I support
> the rights of developers to release their software under any license
> they see fit. I also support the rights of users to say "no" to licenses
> they don't agree with. I only wish that the non-GPL license brigades
> were as consistent and organised as the pro-GPL license brigade. 
...
> Well, maybe the situation does end up with a few more categories that
> just my three... but that would be my personal target. I think three, or
> at most six open source licenses covering 90% of open source would be a
> huge improvement in actual practical freedom. Knowing you don't have to
> consult a lawyer if you want to combine works would be wonderful.
> 


WebMink's current blog entry addresses these concerns much
better than I can.

http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/webmink/

(And yours, Greg, about entrapment)


...

> I will also summarise my position one last time:
> I bear no ill-will against Sun. I think that what Sun have done is
> wonderful and will definitely benefit their customers. 

Ben - thankyou -- it was always obvious to me at least what your
stance was and for that I thank you.

One of the things I _really_ appreciate about humbug is that
it's a group of people who are willing to engage in rational
discussion about unix and its derivatives. There is a broad
mix of advocates for free, OSS and commercial licensing of
software. One thing we seem to be able to agree on is that
everybody has different needs when it comes to computing, and
that there are different approaches to resolving those needs.

Thankyou.




best regards,
James C. McPherson
--
Pacrim PTS Engineer            828 Pacific Highway
                                Gordon NSW
Sun Microsystems Australia     2072





More information about the General mailing list