On Fri, 1 Mar 2013 10:36:48 -0500, Alex Barth wrote:
On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 12:16 AM, Paul Norman wrote:
The fact that you can’t mix OSM + proprietary data and then
distribute it as some kind of “OSM but better” without
releasing
the proprietary data is a feature of share-alike licenses, not a
bug.
Not every feature is a good feature, just like in software. There are
features that are just a bad idea. In this case, the share alike
feature protects us from something that just won't hurt OSM anyway,
in
fact it would help OSM.
But OSM doesn't exist to gobble up data.
It exists to ensure that everyone is free to use its data.
Please note that by "use" I mean "interact with", not "prevent other
people from using". If you want to lock people out of access to OSM data
in your application, you are preventing use of that data.
Someone goes mixes OSM with proprietary data, sells the result?
Awesome! This is exactly what's going on today with tiles, no? If the
individual, company or organization who sells improved OSM data does
not give back into the OSM ecosystem by creating better tools or
contributing unencumbered data, they're just plain dumb.
No, they are smart because they are giving their shareholders value
rather than leaking it to third parties.
Open source or open data is not something you're forced to do, you're
doing it because you're smart.
But where you do it, you should actually do it.
And where the condition of being free to use that data is that others
should be free to use it, that is not unreasonable.
There is further a false premise that most potential data users who
have to weigh opening non-OSM data they're mixing in somehow have a
choice. They more likely don't and hence we lose them as contributors
entirely.
You are arguing that users of OSM data should not be free to use OSM
data just in case someone decides to gift back some data to OSM (despite
the economic irrationality of this) so that people can benefit
from....not being free to use it.
That...doesn't work.
- Rob.
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