On Mon, Apr 24, 2000 at 04:32:44PM -0700, Lee Iverson wrote:
> 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.
commercial should cover;
* charging for a product or service of which your building block forms a
key component (how do you define this?)
or
* you actively provide support services on a fees charged basis. By active
I mean you advertise and seek business supporting this software.
should be free for;
* internal use.
* personal use
ie, it's only when one entity forms a relationship with another entity for
the purposes of creating profit by using your product that I'd be
interested in charging. Interal use is too difficult to police and relies
on the honesty of the organisation. It also slows the spread of the
software and the ideaologies assouciated with it, so don't try. compare
MySQL and Oracle, oracle is supearior in may repects but I can think of
several organisation that use mysql as it's cheaper to buy, ie free,
(actually it life cycle cost is lower but no-one thinks of that).
> 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
Industry. definately. the standard should be open, the product is another
matter. that way if the product fails at least the standard lives on and
other people can release products that are interoperable. this "competing"
software then re-enforces your standard in a bootstrapping manner.
remember metcalfe's (sp?) law, O(n^2).
Jeff.
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