In message <3904BDDC.93E6ECBC@eng.sun.com>, Eric Armstrong writes:
>Here is one reasonable licensing model:
> http://www.mysql.com/Manual_chapter/manual_Licensing_and_Support.html
The MySQL license is definitely interesting but it is on the edge of
the Open Source definition. Drawing a direct distinction between
commercial/non-commercial uses is a problem.
Let me try to rephrase this whole discussion. One of the basic
foundations of Doug's bootstrapping model is the evolvability of the
software. I'd like to suggest that the only way to get this to happen
is to build the basic infrastructure on "open source" and "open
standards".
The fundamental issue is whether we are trying to build an application
or to build the foundation for an industry. In my opinion, there is
no question: an industry. In order to do that we need to worry about
some very basic things:
o Simple standards
& Broad interoperability
& Very low-effort buy in
=> Open source infrastructure
Moreover, if we really want broad industry support for the standards,
the infrastructure needs to be a component which can be easily
incorporated into commercial (and proprietary) software. That argues
strongly for a BSD-style or LGPL rather than the full-fledged GPL.
Now, how do you make money in the context of an open standard and open
source infrastructure? I think we need to think both as a group and
as individuals on that point. As a group, we're essentially in on the
ground floor of what we hope will be a whole industry. Funding this
effort by inviting stakeholders in on the ground floor of the
development of standards for enterprise-ready productivity tools
shouldn't be too hard once we clearly articulate what our plan is.
As far as our individual opportunities for business development go,
I'd say look to the Internet and Web for that. Whether or not
anybody's eBusiness stocks are presently going anywhere or not, I
don't think that anybody could argue that there isn't an industry
there. Significantly, all of the infrastructure of the Web (from DNS
to XML) has been built on open source development and simple, open
standards. Being in on the ground floor of that development should
give all of us a head start in attempting to define and exploit that
incipient industry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Iverson SRI International
leei@ai.sri.com 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park CA 94025
http://www.ai.sri.com/~leei/ (650) 859-3307
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