Jared Smith wrote: > On Fri, 2008-10-31 at 10:20 -0400, Steve Totaro wrote: > >> A profit margin for Asterisk or Digium? Where is the line drawn here. >> The line was moved quite a bit with Adwords debacle. >> > > John isn't suggesting in any way that this would be for Digium's > financial benefit -- he's simply trying to see if there's interest from > the community in having an easier way for community members to help fund > community development. > >
I think the issue of contention here is the end result vs. the outward intent, perhaps. Basically, Digium pushes a method of Open Source development to get the product's bugs worked out, or features added, and then gets to incorporate all the good-faith OS development into a product which is resold for profit, trademarked, and whose trademark is heavily defended to the point that many people can't use the word Asterisk without worrying about breaching that trademark. Now, I've no qualms at all with this in the spirit of free commerce, but the issue is that, while this may not be intended, it DOES seem to violate the spirit of Open Source if the OS project you're working on for the betterment of the community, is then trademarked so that you, as a developer on the project, couldn't take the code and make it your own, sell it, and even SAY "This is based on Asterisk." I don't think there's any doubt that the community would benefit from a funding source for community development. I think the argument being made is that it's not STRICTLY community development. It's Asterisk development, which is free to use and extend, but still has serious IP rights associated with it that might make your average OS developer a bit nervous or uncomfortable. It's a bit like Google's recent call for "Ideas to Change the World." Basically, they called for inventors, idea people, and all others to come up with ten projects that would help change the world... which would then become the property and sole ownership of Google, Inc. in their quest for business profits (and world domination ;) ). It's one thing to espouse altruism. It's another to use the good will of others for purely self-motivated goals. I see this current idea, however, as a win win situation. Digium gets bugs fixed and features added for future releases that they can sell, people who need bugs fixed and features added get what they want, and developers get paid for it. I think it's a great idea. I'm just not sure I'd call it any longer an Open Source initiative in spirit. That is, of course, just my opinion. Feel free to accept it for what opinions are often worth.... N. _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
