|
|
|
@ -3,47 +3,47 @@ in the public domain: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Public domain vs. viral licenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why is this library public domain? |
|
|
|
|
Because more people will use it. Because it's not viral, people are |
|
|
|
|
not obligated to give back, so you could argue that it hurts the |
|
|
|
|
development of it, and then because it doesn't develop as well it's |
|
|
|
|
not as good, and then because it's not as good, in the long run |
|
|
|
|
maybe fewer people will use it. I have total respect for that |
|
|
|
|
opinion, but I just don't believe it myself for most software. |
|
|
|
|
Why is this library public domain? |
|
|
|
|
Because more people will use it. Because it's not viral, people are |
|
|
|
|
not obligated to give back, so you could argue that it hurts the |
|
|
|
|
development of it, and then because it doesn't develop as well it's |
|
|
|
|
not as good, and then because it's not as good, in the long run |
|
|
|
|
maybe fewer people will use it. I have total respect for that |
|
|
|
|
opinion, but I just don't believe it myself for most software. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Public domain vs. attribution-required licenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The primary difference between public domain and, say, a Creative Commons |
|
|
|
|
commercial / non-share-alike / attribution license is solely the |
|
|
|
|
requirement for attribution. (Similarly the BSD license and such.) |
|
|
|
|
While I would *appreciate* acknowledgement and attribution, I believe |
|
|
|
|
that it is foolish to place a legal encumberment (i.e. a license) on |
|
|
|
|
the software *solely* to get attribution. |
|
|
|
|
The primary difference between public domain and, say, a Creative Commons |
|
|
|
|
commercial / non-share-alike / attribution license is solely the |
|
|
|
|
requirement for attribution. (Similarly the BSD license and such.) |
|
|
|
|
While I would *appreciate* acknowledgement and attribution, I believe |
|
|
|
|
that it is foolish to place a legal encumberment (i.e. a license) on |
|
|
|
|
the software *solely* to get attribution. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In other words, I'm arguing that PD is superior to the BSD license and |
|
|
|
|
the Creative Commons 'Attribution' license. If the license offers |
|
|
|
|
anything besides attribution -- as does, e.g., CC NonCommercial-ShareAlike, |
|
|
|
|
or the GPL -- that's a separate discussion. |
|
|
|
|
In other words, I'm arguing that PD is superior to the BSD license and |
|
|
|
|
the Creative Commons 'Attribution' license. If the license offers |
|
|
|
|
anything besides attribution -- as does, e.g., CC NonCommercial-ShareAlike, |
|
|
|
|
or the GPL -- that's a separate discussion. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. Other aspects of BSD-style licenses besides attribution |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Permissive licenses like zlib and BSD license are perfectly reasonable |
|
|
|
|
in their requirements, but they are very wordy and |
|
|
|
|
have only two benefits over public domain: legally-mandated |
|
|
|
|
attribution and liability-control. I do not believe these |
|
|
|
|
are worth the excessive verbosity and user-unfriendliness |
|
|
|
|
these licenses induce, especially in the single-file |
|
|
|
|
case where those licenses tend to be at the top of |
|
|
|
|
the file, the first thing you see. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To the specific points, I have had no trouble receiving |
|
|
|
|
attribution for my libraries; liability in the face of |
|
|
|
|
no explicit disclaimer of liability is an open question, |
|
|
|
|
but one I have a lot of difficulty imagining there being |
|
|
|
|
any actual doubt about in court. Sometimes I explicitly |
|
|
|
|
note in my libraries that I make no guarantees about them |
|
|
|
|
being fit for purpose, but it's pretty absurd to do this; |
|
|
|
|
as a whole, it comes across as "here is a library to decode |
|
|
|
|
vorbis audio files, but it may not actually work and if |
|
|
|
|
you have problems it's not my fault, but also please |
|
|
|
|
report bugs so I can fix them". |
|
|
|
|
Permissive licenses like zlib and BSD license are perfectly reasonable |
|
|
|
|
in their requirements, but they are very wordy and |
|
|
|
|
have only two benefits over public domain: legally-mandated |
|
|
|
|
attribution and liability-control. I do not believe these |
|
|
|
|
are worth the excessive verbosity and user-unfriendliness |
|
|
|
|
these licenses induce, especially in the single-file |
|
|
|
|
case where those licenses tend to be at the top of |
|
|
|
|
the file, the first thing you see. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To the specific points, I have had no trouble receiving |
|
|
|
|
attribution for my libraries; liability in the face of |
|
|
|
|
no explicit disclaimer of liability is an open question, |
|
|
|
|
but one I have a lot of difficulty imagining there being |
|
|
|
|
any actual doubt about in court. Sometimes I explicitly |
|
|
|
|
note in my libraries that I make no guarantees about them |
|
|
|
|
being fit for purpose, but it's pretty absurd to do this; |
|
|
|
|
as a whole, it comes across as "here is a library to decode |
|
|
|
|
vorbis audio files, but it may not actually work and if |
|
|
|
|
you have problems it's not my fault, but also please |
|
|
|
|
report bugs so I can fix them"--so dumb! |
|
|
|
|