<<I don't see a>>
reason to re-write something that seems to work fine for a lot of
publishers -- its good enough for them. Its like the interface and
instructions that come with a lot of free developer tools -- it may not
be user friendly, but it only needs to work for those folks who are
going to make the investment in working with it.
Because even the larger publishers have some disagreements over handling of even the most basic portions of the license.
So long as people are getting by on mutual good will, the license is good enough. However, should good will break down and should a larger party try to strong arm a smaller one, then ambiguities in the license become much more important, and then it's just too late to change the license for that particular interaction.
For a consumer, such interactions could mean a lot. A smaller publisher might be forced right out of business or to drop key product lines.
A whole lot of the "safe harbor" is being managed less by universal agreement on the terms of the license and a lot more by general agreement on a few broad portions of the license and a whole lot of good will to handle all the rest.
Lee
