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FOSS License Proliferation Adding Complexity

Posted by kdawson on from the do-what-i-say-no-me dept.

E5Rebel writes "Business is embracing open source like never before, but the effective demise of SCO's claims against Linux doesn't mean an end to licensing problems, an analyst warns. The debate on Slashdot seems to focus on the GPL and its virtues, but there are 1,000-plus open source licenses (according to analyst Saugatuck), and businesses face having to manage multiple licenses within a single open source product. What can be done to minimize multiple-license pain for corporate open source adopters?"

6 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. When using them, all the licenses say the same thi by Tyger · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why does the large number of licenses have to be a management problem? Most the proliferation in business is the usage, not the development of open source, and a bulk of the open source licenses say you can use it however you want, it's only when you distribute it (Modified or unmodified) that you have to start worrying about exactly what is in the license.

  2. Re:1000+ ??? by Tyger · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you count all the subtle variations (For example, BSD license with who gets credit changed) I can see it being 1000+. But that is taking a very strict definition of different FOSS licenses, and not a realistic definition that all those are basically the same thing.

  3. Can you say FUD? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah, I knew you could. The average Linux distribution doesn't have anything close to a 1000 licenses in it. Stop being ridiculous. There is pretty much BSD/MIT/X11, GPL, LGPL, Mozilla, Artistic, and maybe a couple of others, depending on what apps are installed.

    And in the end -- so what? FOSS licenses break down into two categories: BSD-type and GPL-type. That's it. They're all pretty much the same, especially ones that conform to the Open Source Definition, so who cares?

    --
    My blog
  4. number of licenses by mattb112885 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Its no different for proprietary software, in which the number of licenses is basically equal to the number of pieces of software you have ordered.

  5. Re:No, just use OSI-approved licenses by Nibbler999 · · Score: 2, Informative

    There's about 60, which is still too many to try to interoperate.

  6. copying is copying by Crispy+Critters · · Score: 1, Informative
    How often does a business need only a single copy of a piece of software? Copying inside the business is still copying and requires a license.

    Heck, even copying from the hd to ram to run the code counts as copying (note that this copying is allowed by US law if the copy on the drive is legal, but not otherwise).