On 7/10/06, Attila Kinali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 07:16:37 -0400
"Timothy Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > This way rip off companies would have a much harder life.
> > Apropos certificate, a "OGA vX.Y compatible" certificate
> > for sold devices would be also a good thing. Then anyone
> > could modify, build and sell derivatives, but the customer
> > would still have some sort of guarantee that the device
> > would work as he expects it. (yes, rejecting this
> > certificate to rip off companies, would also gain us
> > some security)
>
> Also, there's the issue of patents. I think some patents could
> protect our IP from ripoffs (although it doesn't deal with the legit
> GPL case). It could also be a good source of revenue for Traversal
> (when dealing with non-Free Software entities).
Please, don't open Pandoras box! I haven't seen sofar one
case where patents have worked together with OSS/OH other then
giving away all rights to everyone. Anything else just asks
for trouble.
Some of the more pushy "open everything" people have told me that
patents would be a valid way to keep from getting ripped off, going to
the extent of not licensing them to be free for use under GPL. What
to do?
If we have specific licensing terms that lets FOSS use it freely, then
FOSS is protected, and we can all benefit from royalties that come
from regular businesses.
I mean, whatever Traversal would earn from this would go right back
into the development of more FOSS-friendly technology. That's the
whole point of making it self-sustaining. We need to pay for
resources. Hardware, people's time, etc. My priority is to grow our
ability to develop this sort of technology, so for instance when I
finally do take a salary, it'll be well below market average for an
engineer (putting aside the notion of CEO entirely).
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