Why Plan-9 licensing?

[Jim Choate]

On Mon, 22 Oct 2001, Karsten M. Self wrote:

> The trend in free software licensing has been strong reluctance to
> accepting novel licenses.

Right, that's why there are so many of them out there...

> > Interaction for who, the author or the user? 
> 
> Interaction between licenses.  It's more overhead for the developer to
> deal with. 

Interaction between licenses for who?...

You're using a flawed model. There are three 'roles'; author, distributor,
user. Any license must interact with all three roles. The fact is that the
license doesn't effect the developer nearly as much as the distributor and
the end user. You're only looking at a single layer of interactions.

There is another aspect you're completely ignoring, unless one license
prohibits(!) use with another license the interaction (outside of "Can I
make money off it?") is nil - both for developers and users.

> > All license start out in the minority. It's a competition in a way.
> 
> What are you competing for? What characteristic of a license will "win"
> the competition?

Utility, which license brings the maximum benefit to all three roles.

> This isn't software domination,

Yes, it is.

> it's more a protocol for collaborative development. Once you've got that 
> nailed down, stop dicking with the damned lawyers, and start writing code.

One shoe doesn't fit all.



 --
    ____________________________________________________________________

     The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.

                                             Edmund Burke (1784)

       The Armadillo Group       ,::////;::-.          James Choate
       Austin, Tx               /:'///// ``::>/|/      ravage at ssz.com
       www.ssz.com            .',  ||||    `/( e\      512-451-7087
                           -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-
    --------------------------------------------------------------------