Author: robweir
Date: Wed Dec 12 21:39:51 2012
New Revision: 1420991
URL: http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?rev=1420991&view=rev
Log: (empty)
Added:
openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/volunteers.mdtext
Modified:
openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/compliance.mdtext
Modified: openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/compliance.mdtext
URL:
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/compliance.mdtext?rev=1420991&r1=1420990&r2=1420991&view=diff
==============================================================================
--- openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/compliance.mdtext (original)
+++ openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/compliance.mdtext Wed Dec 12
21:39:51 2012
@@ -18,48 +18,50 @@ Notice: Licensed to the Apache Softwa
##Software License Compliance Costs
-The Business Software Alliance [offers cash rewards][1], up to $1 million, to
disgruntled employees who confidentially turn in their employer (or
ex-employer) for software piracy.
-They call this campaign, "Bust your Boss!"
+The software industry watchdog, the Business Software Alliance, [offers cash
rewards][1] to disgruntled employees who confidentially turn in their
+employer (or ex-employer) for software piracy.
+
+They call this campaign, "Bust your Boss!" Rewards can range up to $1 million.
-As you probably already know, you don't own commercial software in the same
way you own a chair or a desk. You license the software from the vendor, and
this license gives you
-permission to use the software, under terms specified by the license. These
terms might include how many users or PC's may access the software. The terms
might even include
+As you probably already know, you don't own commercial software in the same
way you own a chair or a desk. Instead, you license the software from the
vendor, and this license gives you
+permission to use the software, but only under terms specified by the license.
These terms typically say how many users or PC's may access the software. The
terms might even include
a clause allowing the vendor to audit your usage of the software.
-In order to avoid the expense and penalties of a BSA audit, companies
institute Software Asset Management (SAM) practices to ensure that their use of
commercial software complies
-with the applicable licenses. These practices generally include employee
education along with the purchase of software to track licenses and software
use within the organization.
-
-The combined costs of these practices is the "cost of compliance" for using
commercial software. It is an expense that does not make your organization
more productive, does not benefit
-your customers and adds nothing to the bottom line. It is purely risk
mitigation. Along with license, maintenance and training costs, it is one of
the costs of working with commercial
-software.
+In order to avoid the expense and penalties of a BSA audit, organizations are
increasingly adopting Software Asset Management (SAM) practices to ensure that
their use of commercial
+software complies with the applicable licenses. These practices generally
include employee education along with the purchase of software to track
licenses and software use within
+the organization.
+
+The combined cost of these SAM practices is the "cost of compliance" for using
commercial software. It is an expense that does not make your organization
more productive, does not
+benefit your customers and adds nothing to the bottom line. It is purely risk
mitigation. Along with license, maintenance and training costs, it is one of
the expenses of using
+commercial software.
##Open Source Compliance Costs
-As opposed to commercial EULA-style software licenses, open source software
have licenses that explicitly permit free redistribution. This reduces the
cost of compliance for many
-organizations.
+As opposed to commercial software licenses, open source software have licenses
that explicitly permit free redistribution. This reduces the cost of
compliance for many
+organizations, since tracking application usage is not needed.
However, organizations that use open source software and also develop and
distribute their own proprietary software, can find themselves in trouble due
to the viral nature (copyleft)
-of some open source licenses. If one of your programmers inadvertently
includes some copyleft code into your proprietary product, you could be
required to make the source code for
-your entire product freely available to the public.
+of some open source licenses. If one of your employees or contractors
inadvertently includes some copyleft code in your proprietary product, then you
could be required by that license
+to make the source code for your entire product freely available to the
public. That could kill your business.
-This is not a theoretical concern. As aggressively as the BSA protects the
interests of its commercial members,
-the Software Freedom Law Center protects the GPL license in [high-profile
lawsuits against large corporations][2], including
-Westinghouse, Samsung and Best Buy.
+This is not just a theoretical concern. As aggressively as the BSA protects
the interests of its commercial members, the Software Freedom Law Center
protects the GPL license
+in [high-profile lawsuits against large corporations][2], including
Westinghouse, Samsung and Best Buy.
-So the cost of compliance with copyleft code is as bad or even greater than
the use of proprietary software, since an organization risks being forced to
make the source code
-for their proprietary product public and available for anyone to use, free of
charge. To mitigate this risk requires
-more employee education, more approval cycles, more audits, more worries and
more risk. This is the increased
-cost of compliance when copyleft software is brought into an organization.
+So the cost of compliance with copyleft code can be even greater than the use
of proprietary software, since an organization risks being forced to make the
source code
+for their proprietary product public and available for anyone to use, free of
charge. To mitigate this risk requires more employee education, more approval
cycles, more internal audits
+and more worries. This is the increased cost of compliance when copyleft
software is brought into an organization.
-##Advantages of the Apache License
+##The Apache Advantage
Not all open source licenses are copyleft license. Not all of them have that
viral quality that radically increases the risk for an organization. A subset
of open source licenses,
-generally called "permissive" licenses, are much friendly for corporate use.
These licenses include the MIT and BSD licenses, as well as the [Apache
Software License 2.0][3] that we use.
+generally called "permissive" licenses, are much more friendly for corporate
use. These licenses include the MIT and BSD licenses, as well as the [Apache
Software License 2.0][3]
+that we use for Apache OpenOffice.
Like other open source licenses, the Apache License explicitly allows you to
copy and redistribute the covered product, without any license fees or
royalties. But because it is a
permissive license, it also allows you to prepare and distribute derivative
products, without any requirement to make your own source code public. So both
BSA and SFLC risks
-are eliminated. The cost of license compliance is drastically reduced.
+are eliminated, and the cost, to your businessa, of license compliance is
drastically reduced.
[1]: https://reporting.bsa.org/r/report/add.aspx?src=us
Added: openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/volunteers.mdtext
URL:
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/volunteers.mdtext?rev=1420991&view=auto
==============================================================================
--- openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/volunteers.mdtext (added)
+++ openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/why/other/volunteers.mdtext Wed Dec 12
21:39:51 2012
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+Title: Volunteers, not Amateurs
+Notice: Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ distributed with this work for additional information
+ regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+ to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ .
+ http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ .
+ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ under the License.
+
+##Complicated software, developed by volunteers?
+
+Apache OpenOffice is developed 100% by volunteers. Apache does not pay for
developers, for translators, for QA, for marketing, for UI, for support, etc.
Of course, we're
+happy to accept [donations to the Apache Software Foundation][1], to keep our
servers runnings and for similar ovehead expenses. But our products are
developed entirely by volunteers.
+
+Some users are intially worried by this statement. How can software for free,
developed by volunteers, be any good?
+
+##Talent as deep as any corporation
+
+OpenOffice, through its decade plus existance, has had, and continues to
benefit from the contributions of many professionals. Some are sponsored by
their employers to volunteer
+with the project. At one time or another Sun, Oracle, Novell, Redhat, IBM and
others have sponsored their employees to work on OpenOffice. Some professional
are recently retired
+and work on the project to keep their skills sharp or to "give back" to the
open source community. Others have a business based on OpenOffice consulting,
and volunteer with the
+project to stay close to potential customers. Others are students, studying
software engineering or a related field, and participate in our project as a
form of electronic
+internship.
+
+So our all-volunteer principle is a statement of how we are organized, as a
non-profit. But this is not a statement on the professionalism and talent of
our volunteers. In fact,
+very few corporations would be able to afford the kind of talent that we have,
as volunteers, helping with Apache OpenOffice.
+
+
+
+[1]: http://www.apache.org/foundation/contributing.html
