EU Report Advocates Pooling Open Source Software

bnoise writes "'European administrations should share software resources, a report published by IDA says'. IDA stands for 'Interchange of Data between Administrations' and is an European Commission initiative promoting the use of ICT in the exchange of information between EU administrations. The report extensively (147 pages) describes and comments Open Source Software licenses and promotes the use of source sharing among administrations and beyond. Its 'Legal Framework analysis' section alone is worth reading if you (still) don't know what license to choose for your next software development. Also from one of the authors: 'Study into the use of Open Source Software in the Public Sector' (June 2001)." ZDNet has a summary of the report, and the report is also available in non-PDF formats.

Comments

The Register

[GothChip]

And here's The Register's take on the story from this morning.

Or better yet, some quotes from the study

[ubbe]

The study (pdf) is pretty level-headed about the "viral nature" of the GPL-style licenses, check out this quote:

"At the contrary of some declarations, this "copyleft effect" does not touch or affect other software, or software interoperating with the GPLed software. But if you really INCLUDE
significant parts of copyleft code (e.g. GPLed components) in your software, this software must be distributed under the same license (e.g. GPL license)."

And this paragraph:

"As was said in the "copyleft" comments, the viral effect of a license like the GPL is a myth in the sense that it will not constraint a
publisher to release his software as GPL if some lines of open source code where introduced in it by accident."

The study (pdf) compare the different licenses, the pros and cons for the developer/end user. I haven't had the chance to read it all, but from what I can tell It's good reading. Great education for 'Open Source' enthusiasts.