On Tue, Jun 07, 2005 at 06:26:46PM -0700, Sean Kellogg wrote: > > You are, as you say, talking about termination rights. But wouldn't > > those be just as much an issue here as they are with, say, the GPL? > > Oh yes, termination rights are certainly an issue with the GPL. However, you > can't exercise termination rights on a work unless you control 50% of the > work. I suggest that most projects that will be around in 35 years are of > such size that no one person will have true majority control.
It's not so much projects that are actually around for 35 years. Rather, if you maintain a project for, say, three or four years, I reuse large chunks of it in my own project, and my project outlives yours. Decades later, you (or your heirs) have a change of heart, and revoke the license you originally granted to me for your project, which I require to use your code in mine. You don't control 50% of my work, but you easily control 50% of the work you licensed. If I want my work to remain free, I have to excise your code from it--which, decades later, probably won't be possible. It's a textbook failure of the "tentacles of evil" test. -- Glenn Maynard -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
