Henri Bergius wrote: > One would be the way Linux kernel is copyrighted. There every > contributor owns the code he has written there. The problem > with this is that changing the license (if GPL begins causing > some problems, for example) would require acceptance from > *all* code contributors, which in case of a big software problems > is quite difficult. > > The other approach, which is the one we'll be taking is to > form a nonprofit where all contributors can gain membership > in, and then turn the copyrights to that organization. This > way everybody gets a vote on what is done, but single developer > can't make it impossible for the whole project to make advancements. In which case, you need to define how the voting will be done: and the process leading up to it (discussion, brainstorming, criticism, mediation, designing alternative proposals, ranking them through a consensus voting system, and so on). >From where I sit in Northern Ireland, if you choose an approach that almost works with the warring tribes of Ulster, there will be no difficulty in reconciling the opinions of software developers. I would recommend the preferendum for choosing between alternatives, and the matrix vote for assigning people to committees. See http://www.qub.ac.uk/mgt/papers/prefer/ for the former, and Peter Emerson's books for the latter. The preferendum is one of the voting systems supported by the Sztaki voting service (http://www.sztaki.hu/services/voting/). In getting there, I'd suggest following the stages recommended by experienced mediators (see http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/davidn/prefer/latrobe.html, especially the link to "reaching consensus"). --- Dave Newman, Queen's University Belfast, School of Management
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