On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 12:20 AM, Michael Jennings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thursday, 24 July 2008, at 19:25:42 (+0200), > Vincent Torri wrote: > >> I've learned a lot about the licences reading these mails, and it seems >> that the fact is not "such licence is a hindrance" but "such licence can >> give us developpers". That's different. So, from what i've understood, wrt >> companies : >> >> 1) either with stay with BSD, and only the companies that accept to work >> with code licenced under BSD would eventually share code with us >> >> 2) either we switch to, for example LGPL, or other similar licence (I was >> told that MPL is not that bad), and then companies that accept to share >> code with LGPL AND BSD licenced code would eventually help us. The >> difference can be great. >> >> So if we want to have more than 5 devs on the core efl, we should >> seriously discuss about which licence to use. > > I dispute the belief that license is the key (or even one of the key) > factors in the success of an open source software project. There are > other reasons besides license as to why the previous example project > comparisons came out the way they did (like continuous, ongoing > financial backing), and I can provide examples of GPL/LGPL projects > that have failed against their BSD-licensed counterparts (Berlin) and > of successful BSD-licensed projects (Vorbis). > > The only way to scientifically assert that LGPL > BSD for project > success is to have two identical codebases, one under each license, > and see which one wins. That would, of course, be somewhat > silly...but that's the only way to control your experimental > variables. > > I can also point to reasons why E hasn't been used (or has been > replaced) in certain commercial ventures, and I'm know at least a > couple people on this list who could do the same. So far I don't know > a single company or organization which has cited license as their > reason for moving away from E. > > And without really looking too hard, I was able to easily find articles > about actual, decent-sized public companies (not the least of which > being Apple) who chose BSD-licensed software because it's MORE > business-friendly: > > http://www.bsdatwork.com/2002/01/03/source_of_mac_os_x/ > http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2001/04/is_bsd_taking_the_spotlight_aw.html > > The bottom line is that you'll find developers who refuse to code *GPL > software just like you'll find those who refuse to code BSD/MIT/X > software. And like it or not, their reasoning almost always has > something to do with how they define "freedom" and whose freedoms > they're trying to protect. >
Well, this thread has of course mutated from its original form, but has raised several good opinions, and in fact it has turned into "what do we do internally" with the efl. If you think that a project is successful based on how many companies have used your software then of course actually licensing your sw is not a matter just give it to the world, bsd license is the most free license (afaik) that you can have and of course you'll find thousands of projects that are out there being closed or open that use your software, so your meaning of successful is achieved. So for companies that actually want to use someone else code (because of a technical decision or not), and dont want or can't send something back (code, money, whatever) to the author then bsd is the best option. And that is indeed what happense on many on the companies that use bsd code, they dont give back code, of course they are not obligated to do so, its your license that allows that, but is that what we want? If your meaning of successful is on how many developers are out there on bsd or *gpl projects, i really dont know the statistics, but i think gpl is beyond, might be something related with the media, maybe, but the number of developers is something we need. But as my initial question, what happens with companies that actually want to give something back, that believe in the concept of community but dont want other companies that dont share the same vision as you to use the code to make profit, close source, etc? i think that for that case (and is not a small group of companies that are working like that right now) bsd is not an option. I think we should take this topic in the sense of what do we want or expect from the e project. So for me and my vision of how e should be, i want e to be open source, but i want all of its derivative work to be also open source, i dont want to code on this project for the next 5 years and suddenly the number of developers (which is small) goes to zero, a company takes our code, close source it, and then you see your code on the next cell phone you buy, it will be frustrating. I think many of us want to make a living from it, at the end is our effort and sacrifice that is in discussion here. So, what's other opinions on how they would like e to be? > Michael > > -- > Michael Jennings (a.k.a. KainX) http://www.kainx.org/ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Linux Server/Cluster Admin, LBL.gov Author, Eterm (www.eterm.org) > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > "If you think C++ is not overly complicated, just what is a > 'protected abstract virtual base pure virtual private destructor,' > and when was the last time you needed one?" > -- Tom Cargill, "C++ Journal" > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > _______________________________________________ > enlightenment-devel mailing list > enlightenment-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ enlightenment-devel mailing list enlightenment-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-devel
