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Would You Die To Respect a Software License?

Posted by timothy on from the visit-from-the-compliance-department dept.

Julie188 writes "Some 2,000 licenses cover the 230,000+ projects in Black Duck's open source knowledge base. While 10 licenses comprise 93% of the software, that leaves 1,980-odd licenses for the other 3% — and some of them have really crazy conditions. The Death and Repudiation License, for instance, requires the user to be dead."

5 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. It's not news, it's Slashdot by Luke+has+no+name · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Slow day.

  2. Who put the Idle story in the News bin? by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If a software license exists, and no software is written that is available under the terms of that license, does it merit discussion on Slashdot?

    It looks to me as somebody set up a site to create a gallery of TOSes so software writers can get some ideas... but then the site got attacked by the typical forum trolls took over and we get a comedy site as the end result. This belongs to Idle next to news from The Onion.

  3. Quip on Contracts by Improv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The "freedom to encumber" works is like the "freedom to punch someone" ... They are both 'freedoms' that only exist at the expense of others.
                    -- Gregory Maxwell, discussion on licensing

    --
    For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
    1. Re:Quip on Contracts by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That would be a good description of copyright, and thus copyright licenses, but not contracts in general. The terms of a contract are merely conditions which you require to be met before you will voluntarily give the other party some of your property, which you are in no way obligated to do. No matter what the terms may be, they impose no expense on others; one is always free to ignore the offer should one find the terms unpalatable. Licenses are similar, but the copyrights which give licenses their power are artificial social-engineering constructs which only exist at the expense of others.

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
    2. Re:Quip on Contracts by Improv · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Fair, although contract law has recognised certain topics where contracts are not free for good reason - situations of some sorts are considered generally either coercive or one-sided enough that the public good is ill-served by the absence of some (or significant regulation). Landlord-tenant law is one example, although English common law has accumulated a long list of other circumstances and remedies to specific abuses, many of which we've kept in the US.

      --
      For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.