On Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:38:18 -0500 Young-Min Park <[email protected]> wrote:
> Don't call yourselves open source if it's not free. This is an > outrage to everyone who as ever volunteered their time and expertise > to open source projects without pay. > Hi Park: Judging from your comment, it appears there is some misunderstanding of what is offered as a commercial service/product and what is open source. Briefly, there are multiple definitions of open source around the world which are explained here: http://www.opensource.org/ If you can take the time to explore the various licenses and kinds of open source commitments which many companies adhere to and expect their users to adhere to as well, you'll observe the very large breadth or gap of intention and meaning of all these various licenses -- it is an education to explore as much of them as possible. Although various companies do offer some of their software products as "open source" they define the conditions they choose to do so and those conditions express widely differing definitions, and circumstances regarding when such a process will be done. The expectations and obligations by those using their software also differ. Some companies state very clearly that if the reader doesn't agree to the terms of what the company or project is offering, then one must not use the software. Some of what companies and projects offer is committed to open source only after a period of time and/or under particular circumstances. PGP (pgp.com), for instance, makes their contribution in two different ways. They offer a trial software product for Windows and OS X which after 30 days provides some, not all the functions, of their commercial product. In other words, the trial version after 30 days, functions as "free" software has less functionality of the trial version, but remains quite useful as free software. They also contribute to the GnuGP project so that gpg2 can run something called OpenPGP or OpenGP which allows for public keys created with the trial or free version or other commercial products of PGP to be understood by gpg2. Individuals and companies have the right to determine the terms and conditions of their employment. This means also that a person (an individual human or commercial entity) can freely determine when they will charge for services for their product and/or when they will contribute to open source or other community based or free effort. The obligation for everyone however is to become clearer regarding which licenses and commercial/non-commercial obligations or expectations one is agreeing to. I prefer an agreement based on a handshake. We are all a long way from those days, especially as our current transactions of services span across the planet. What we can do however is to clarify the terms and means of our relationships to one another which although challenging to examine and consider -- in the long run can help smooth the means for cooperation. ========= Refranes/Popular sayings: The Taino say:No hay mal que por bien no venga. There is no evil out of which good cannot blossom.
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