Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Mozilla Admits Firefox EULA Is Flawed

Posted by kdawson on from the sudden-outbreak dept.

darthcamaro writes "Mozilla has now come around and is taking seriously the concerns of Ubuntu and others about the Firefox EULA, which we discussed vigorously the other day. In fact Mozilla told InternetNews.com that the EULA itself is flawed and will be replaced with something else. Quoting Mozilla Chairperson Mitchell Baker from the article: 'There is a need for something, something to explain the license[.] I'm not sure I would call it a EULA because that has a meaning to many people of adding restrictions to software and we won't be doing that. We'll be having a license agreement much as Red Hat has a license agreement that says the software is available under the GPL and don't use our trademarks et cetera. So we'll have a license agreement but we won't think of it as a EULA.'"

3 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Informational dialog by Rinisari · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If it's simply for the user's information, why not make it open in a tab when the browser is opened for the first time, not an obtrusive dialog box like it is now? It would be like the tab which spawns where there's an automatic update.

    This way, Mozilla can have its "EULA sans mandatory agreement" and the users can simply close the tab if they're not interested in reading the lengthy open source licenses or a summary thereof.

    --
    Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
  2. Why why why?! by Anita+Coney · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why does Red Hat, Mozilla, or any other company, need a license telling people not to use their trademarks?! Isn't that what fricken trademark law is all about?! Do they honestly believe I can use Coke's trademark anyway I want merely because Coke doesn't come with a EULA?!

    Having too many lawyers never solved any problem, but they've created more than a few. This is one of those instances.

    --
    If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  3. Re:A rose by any other name... by itsdapead · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've filed a couple of bug reports against GPL'ed software on this, because GPL specifically says you don't need to agree to it to use the software.

    By clicking "I Agree" you agree that you don't need to agree to anything.

    By clicking "I Disagree" you agree that Segmentation fault - core dumped

    --
    In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.