Steve, You ask very tough questions. This is good, but I don't really have all the answers for you (or the answers you necessarily want to hear).
I completely disagree with you on the definition of open source there. Open source is not just about source code. It is a much larger cultural exchange that is as much social, and political as it is technical. Besides, there is nothing restricting others from building their own RSS aggregator. Go ahead and do it. You don't need our source code for that. FireANT is based on open content and open protocols. It will have an open web services API that developers will be able to take advantage of. We are doing our best to make this community stronger. We do a ton of outreach and education. Anyone who spends even a brief time on this list would know that. We do this because we believe in this spreading this culture. We believe that other people's voices are important -- that media should be an active conversation and not a passive experience. We want people to create and distribute their own media, and we work damn hard to acheive this goal. We also believe in FireANT. We want to make a real sustainable business so that we don't have to work another day job. We want to dedicate our time to serving this community and improving our product. We also want our product to be free. Its not easy to make a sustainable business based on free tools, but we think its worth trying -- just requires a lot more creativity. Regarding the alpha testing process... I don't think our concerns were unreasonable. We had a closed testing group, and some members were not able to respect the responsibility of being a tester -- it doesn't just mean you get to grab some free software, it means you are agreeing to help us through the process by providing useful bug reports and feedback in a somewhat controlled environment... yes, the private alpha and beta testing process should is controlled by its very nature. When the software is public, then you can feel free to discuss publicly. Again, not an unreasonable concern on our part.... sheesh this discussion is several months old too. -Josh On 9/8/05, Steve Watkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Im not a lawyer either, and I just want to understand this stuff and > help others understand the legal stuff too. Its supposed to be helpful > advise, sorry if it seems more like criticism. > > But half the point of my rant is that no, opensource is about sharing > sourcecode, thats wht it means. My gripe is with people who want some > of the nice positive aspects of the phrase opensource to rub off on > them without actually opening any source. > > It upsets me greatly. And personally I stopped betatesting ANT when it > was deemed that faults with ANT beta versions should not be discussed > publically. That doesnt fit your wider interpretation of what > opensource means either. > > Its ANTs right to do what it likes, you guys deserve sucess, you > deserve control over ANT. Thats the point, control, I get upset when > people who keep control claim to be doing the opposite. Fine if you > want control, just dont pretend otherwise. > > The only way I could interpret the huge defensiveness about discussing > flaws with ant beta, had nothing whatsoever to do with furthering the > cause of getting more people to videoblog. It seemed to me that what > cahnged btween fireant being an opensource utopian project, and the > opensource idea being knocked on the head, was a recognition that it > might have some financial value, and that the fireant brand was worth > protecting, hence the typical instinctive kneejerk reaction of wanting > to silence all criticism. > > Steve of Elbows > > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Joshua Kinberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > OK, full disclosure on this... we're not lawyers. We're regular people > > trying to make a cool product and a business out of something we > > started on our own. We're learning as we go. > > > Open source is about more than source code. Its about sharing > > knowledge and resources too. I think we do way more than our fair > > share in terms of education and outreach. I think this is way more > > effective than giving away source code. What we want is for more > > people to become videobloggers. To begin creating and sharing media. > > It is to this end that we are dedicating our energies. > > > > -Josh > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/T8sf5C/tzNLAA/TtwFAA/lBLqlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
