Dear Russ,
I can understand your point of view, I just wonder if you can see mine? I am an artist. I develop software, and that's what I love doing. I also love offering it to others, but I want to maintain some semblance of artistic control over my software. It's like my baby, after all. That is why the Artistic License was created. And it's a great license, but it was designed a decade ago. And it was intended for developers of C and Perl. It also made conditions based on the state of the computer networking world as it was a decade ago. More than that, for me, I don't care whether or not people post their changes anywhere. I just care that they prominently indicate that the file was changed from its original version. And I don't want others using my name or the name of my software to endorse their products. So I made my own license, one which I feel is appropriate for my desires. And I think that others would want to use this license as well. So I propose the Simplified Artistic License. I posted a copy of the template for it to the list, but I think that it can be simplified even further, by removing the definitions section of the license, since these words are defined in the preamble already. The license I propose and respectfully request approving is below, and available at http://enetwizard.sourceforge.net/license.html. -Samuel SIMPLIFIED ARTISTIC LICENSE Preamble Copyright <<NAME OR GROUP>>, <<YEAR>>. All Rights Reserved. The intent of this document is to state the conditions under which <<NAME OF PRODUCT>> ("Package") may be copied, such that the author, <<NAME OR GROUP>> ("Copyright Holder"), maintains some semblance of artistic control over the development of the Package, while giving the users of the Package the right to use and distribute the Package in a more-or-less customary fashion, plus the right to make reasonable modifications. Conditions of Redistribution & Use You may redistribute and use this Package, in source and binary forms, with or without modification, provided that the following conditions are met: - Redistributions of source code must retain the original copyright notices and associated comments that are included at the beginning and end of each file that is distributed with the Standard Version. - If the source code was modified in any way, each file that was modified must include the statement "this file was modified from its original version" along with appropriate comments indicating how and why the file was modified; these comments should be placed directly underneath the first comment section of each file. - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. - The name of the Copyright Holder may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this Package without specific prior written permission from the Copyright Holder. - The name(s) <<NAME OF PRODUCT>> must not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this Package without specific prior written permission from the Copyright Holder. - Products derived from this Package may not be called <<NAME OF PRODUCT>> -- nor may <<NAME OF PRODUCT>> appear in their name -- without prior written permission from the Copyright Holder. You may indicate that your software works in conjunction with <<NAME OF PRODUCT>> by saying "Product for <<NAME OF PRODUCT>>" instead of calling it "<<NAME OF PRODUCT>> Product." - You may not charge any fees for the Package itself. However, you may distribute this Package in aggregate with other (possibly commercial) programs as part of a larger (possibly commercial) software distribution provided that you do not advertise this Package as a product of your own. - Redistributions of any form whatsoever must retain the following acknowledgment: "This product includes <<NAME OF PRODUCT>>, freely available from <<<URL>>>" No Warranty THIS PRODUCT IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. EACH RECIPIENT IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR READING THE SOURCE CODE FOR THIS PACKAGE AND DETERMINING WHETHER THIS PACKAGE DOES WHAT (S)HE EXPECTS IT TO DO, AND FOR DETERMINING THE APPROPRIATENESS OF USING AND DISTRIBUTING THIS PACKAGE, AND ASSUMES ALL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ITS EXERCISE OF RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE RISKS AND COSTS OF PROGRAM ERRORS, COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS, DAMAGE TO OR LOSS OF DATA, PROGRAMS OR EQUIPMENT, AND UNAVAILABILITY OR INTERRUPTION OF OPERATIONS. Disclaimer of Liability NEITHER RECIPIENT NOR ANY CONTRIBUTORS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOST PROFITS), HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PACKAGE OR THE EXERCISE OF ANY RIGHTS GRANTED HEREUNDER, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
