Re: [SLUG] Tampa OSS Event

From: Everett Attebury (everettattebury@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Jul 12 2007 - 12:39:35 EDT


On 7/11/07, Robin 'Roblimo' Miller <robin@roblimo.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > My intent was to clarify the goal of the project; it was not to insult
> > anyone. I do apologize to those who misinterpreted my question. I try
> > not to have preconceived notions about anything which is why I asked
> > for further clarification. The phrase "open source" is somewhat
> > ambiguous[1] and occassionally misused which is why I posed the
> > question. I have no desire to belittle others on an email list.
>
> As one of the people who has decision power over what projects are
> allowed to be hosted on SourceForge.net, I spend a fair amount of time
> thinking about what is and isn't "open source." In fact, I'm considered
> enough of an expert in this area that last year I was invited to join
> the OSI -- http://opensource.org/ -- board. I had to decline the
> invitation because I cover the OSI and many of the participants'
> companies as a journalist, but I am still close to the group and I have
> been on their license-discuss email list almost since the day it was
> created.
>
> Here's my take: If a license is approved by OSI, software released under
> that license is open source.
>
> Software not issued under an OSI-approved license may be "shared source"
> or "peekaboo source" or something. But it is NOT open source, and will
> not be allowed on SourceForge.net.
>
> Microsoft has several software projects licensed under OSI-approved
> licenses (and a few of these are on SourceForge.net), but most of their
> "shared source" software carries licensing restrictions that prevents it
> from being truly open source.
>
> All FSF-written Free Software licenses qualify as open source. GPL3 has
> not yet been approved by the OSI board, but that could change as early
> as this week, assuming the OSI board meets as scheduled. It has been
> submitted and applauded, and approval is virtually assured; now it just
> needs a vote by the board (a formality).
>
> The worst problem isn't Microsoft's shared source crud, but the "based
> on open source" marketing tag we see more frequently every year. A lot
> of companies want to present their products as "open source" while
> placing restrictions on some or all of their code. I see new licenses
> presented to OSI almost monthly that are attempts to skate or teeter on
> the edge of the rules -- http://opensource.org/docs/osd -- in order to
> give the license holder the benefits of open source while limiting
> distribution or modification in some way.
>
> Note that you can have legitimate open source code but not allow use or
> redistribution of *your trademarks* without your permission. "Freedom to
> fork" is one of the biggest litmus tests for open sourceness, but
> "freedom to fork" does not give you freedom gto use (famous example) the
> Red Hat name on or in your GNU/Linux distro that is based on or derived
> from Red Hat. In essence, if you buy or otherwise obtain a software
> product with the Red Hat name on it, you expect that it meets Red Hat's
> quality standards and is supported by Red Hat. That is the power of Red
> Hat's brand, and you do not have the right to dilute that brand's power
> just because you have the right to modify and redistribute open
> source-licensed code that was written or distributed by Red Hat.
>
> I do not find the phrase "open source" to be at all ambiguous. Maybe
> Microsoft and some others would like you to think it is, but this is as
> fraudulent as the imported fish that gets called "Grouper" on a lot of
> restaurant menus around here, even though it is NOT Grouper.
>
> Robin 'Roblimo' Miller
> Editor in Chief,
> SourceForge Inc.
> Bradenton, Fleriduh
>
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