This may seem rather redundant for present but I think it would be good
to think on creating a application/package database, with a link
package/app -> LICENSE/COPYRIGHT. Today this may sound relatively
superflous as even a few thousand apps can be monitored/controlled by
the community. However the future may show that things could become
quite confusing.
What we would get if we would create such a thing?
1. A clear concise database where anyone would be able to see his
rights/obligations :)
2. A check up system to analyse/control possible licensing conflicts or
copyright hijacking
3. A tool to analyse our freedom :)))
Today we still have a lot of general apps in Linux. In other terms,
programs with a very generalized purpose. However, in a near future, we
may face a bigger specialization and a more end-user purpose. I believe
that, when this happens, we will face troubles. First, because the
developer contingent could be mainly formed of newbies or newcomers from
M$ ranks. They will have to take a time to understand the labyrints of
our legal system (well I do consider that we already have a body of law
here ;) ). Second because some of these developers could be more
attained to deliver closed source apps, due to the nature of such products.
Note that a end product is less flexible and much more "objective" in
its purpose. A product in a more enclosed market segment is more
vulnerable to concurrency. Specially if this product becomes too open to
other developers. While a developer should always have the right to
deliver his product the way he wants, he has not right to mess his
interests with everything else. If his product is GPL/LGPL/BSD/EULA...
based, he should take this into account. No matter his interests, we
cannot put in cause the whole system just because he looses some nerves
or dollars. In a near future, less developed developers may consider
that this is bad and we are nothing more than a bunch of parasites.
However we should not present flamebaits and "go aways". He should note
them that our anarchic democracy and freedom paths are not asphalted but
quite rocky. Without a systematisation of our values we cannot deliver
them such a message. One such move is to organise the system of licenses
into something more systematic and visible. I am not against the whole
bunch of licensing terms/papers we have now. Frankly this confusion is
somehow a value showing the level of our freedom. We are free to develop
and deliver. But having everywhere anarchy is probably not the best way
to defend such freedom.
Sorry for the long philosophy. No you can tell me to buzz off...
Ektanoor
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