RE: License furor

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: forum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:forum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Vincent Stemen
> Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 6:02 PM
> To: forum@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re:  License furor
> 
> On Fri, May 21, 2004 at 03:48:13PM -0400, William M. Quarles wrote:
> > Someone respond to this man!  He's making some good discussion here.
> >
> > I don't understand what the problem is with the new license either.  In
> > comparing it to the modified BSD license, which supposedly is GPL
> > compatible, the XFree86 1.1 License looks almost exactly the same.  Why
> > is it specifically that the XFree86 1.1 License is GPL incompatible,
> > whereas the BSD license is not?
> 
> Read the thread where we discussed this about a month ago near the end
> of April.  The exact problem was discussed in detail.  It looks very
> similar at first glance, but the following statement in the new
> XFree86 license makes it very different.
> 
> "in the same form and location as other such third-party
> acknowledgments"
> 
> I know of no other open source license that contains this condition.
> As I said before, that is a legal booby trap where no distributor of
> open source software can guarantee they are not violating the license.

Let me get this straight.  You're actually worried about legal threats?  Has
such a threat ever actually occurred or is this some new kind of threat that
you've invented?

It's ludicrous to worry about legal threats from XFree86.  Vendors are
caught violating the GPL on a regular basis and face few legal threats other
than perhaps a cease and desist.   They might eventually abide by a cease
and desist if someone is willing to spend enough money and effort to
inconvenience them enough to make it worthwhile, but they never face any
financial demands let alone pay damages.

Hell, XFree86 doesn't ask them to release their proprietary code.  It just
asks for acknowledgement *if and only if* they were going to acknowledge
others.

Do you think any vendor is worried about having to actually release their
proprietary code after violating the GPL?  And you think they're worked
about this license?

Why you worry about whether they will be affected by your visions of legal
threats is beyond me.  That's pure fiction.




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