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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."

36 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Hell No ! by lord_rob+the+only+on · · Score: 3, Funny

    Even if I like a software to be free as in freedom, I respect a software developer to do whatever with his software

  2. Math license by pluther · · Score: 5, Funny

    Which license redefines math so that 1980 + 10 = 2000, and taking 93% leaves only 3% remaining?

    --
    If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
    1. Re:Math license by sharkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It was submitted by "Julie188". Perhaps this is only proving that girls are bad at math? Or maybe being sexist and trying to make girls look dumb makes timothy feel like a man?

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  3. It's not news, it's Slashdot by Luke+has+no+name · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Slow day.

    1. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here's some more ideas:

      Would you smell a nasty fart to prevent terrorism?
      Would you give up your ability to see if it meant you could time travel?
      Would you listen to an entire Britney Spears album if it could bring about world peace?

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    2. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Aw, come on, most of those are easy to pick. How about something that strains our decision engines a little bit?

      -- Would you take a job as Steve "Monkeyboy" Ballmer's toe-cheese extractor if it meant Microsoft would publish only via OSS licenses?

      -- Would you take a position as Steve "Tyrant" Jobs' fashion consultant if it meant Apple would open up the app store?

      -- Would you lick Stallman's neck and armpit if it meant GNU/Hurd became a complete, usable, modern kernel?

      These are the type of choices that would keep me up at night.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    3. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by oldhack · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Fuck world peace.

      --
      Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
    4. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by grcumb · · Score: 4, Funny

      -- Would you take a job as Steve "Monkeyboy" Ballmer's toe-cheese extractor if it meant Microsoft would publish only via OSS licenses?

      I suppose it would be a worthy sacrifice.

      -- Would you take a position as Steve "Tyrant" Jobs' fashion consultant if it meant Apple would open up the app store?

      I am willing to expend my life in pursuit of turtlenecks if it means Openness for all.

      -- Would you lick Stallman's neck and armpit if it meant GNU/Hurd became a complete, usable, modern kernel?

      No! Not in a thousand lifetimes, no! What do you think I am, you sick twisted fuck?!?

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    5. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Would you listen to an entire Britney Spears album if it could bring about world peace?

      Depends, is "world peace" defined as "all humans exterminated" and is the Spears album the delivery method of said destruction?

    6. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Funny

      The first two are easy, but the third one's a false choice: you can also fork and do it yourself.

      Where did you get an Instant Adult (tm) cloning device? I thought they were sold out?

      I personally lack the replicator necessary to fork Stallman and lick him myself.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    7. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 4, Funny

      -- Would you lick Stallman's neck and armpit if it meant GNU/Hurd became a complete, usable, modern kernel?

      Would get Stallman to finally shut up? If so, I'd definitely consider it.

      --
      Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
    8. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by retchdog · · Score: 2, Informative

      just ask rms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    9. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by hairyfeet · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well here is a nice video of RMS (or should that be GNU-RMS?) dining on some fresh toe cheese so watch and make up your own mind.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    10. Re:It's not news, it's Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      God. What has been seen cannot be unseen. That should be the new goatse.

  4. 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.

    1. Re:Who put the Idle story in the News bin? by Flea+of+Pain · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Although would it be possible for this license to have close to an applicable use? Ie. Software for dealing with funeral expenses. You can only use it if you are dead, and being dead gives leave for your family to access the software license only. If you aren't dead, then they or you are breaking the terms of the license. Just a thought, obviously the terms of excessive punishment may need to be edited.

      --
      Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
  5. Severability by Spazmania · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I believe a court would find that clause unenforceable and sever it from the rest of the contract.

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
  6. 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.
  7. Re:Now that's.... by compro01 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I strongly suspect the D&R license is a BSD license fan responding to someone wanting them to dual-license something.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  8. Death and Repudiation License is peanuts by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Death and Repudiation License is nothing compared to the EULA of iPhone OS 5.1

  9. Back in the 80's... by N0Man74 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I remember many shareware authors writing strange things in their terms and licenses.

    I recall that a common graphics viewer those cool new GIF files (among many other formats) wrote that if you continued using their software after 30 days without paying then a demon would be visited by demons who would torment you.

    I was just a kid, didn't have a job, and I never paid. Demons rarely ever visited, and when they did it was just to borrow a cup of sugar or use the phone.

    1. Re:Back in the 80's... by Itninja · · Score: 3, Informative
      Along those lines I have read legal descriptions of real estate plats with all kinds of stuff in them. They are supposed to be verbose, boring descriptions like:

      A PARCEL OF LAND LOCATED IN THE STATE OF CA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, WITH A SITUS ADDRESS OF 915 REAL ESTATE ST, LOS ANGELES CA 90010-3531 C059 CURRENTLY OWNED BY HOUSER HOMER J AND LOTS ROSE M AND HAVING A TAX ASSESSOR NUMBER OF 5090-012-034 AND BEING THE SAME PROPERTY MORE FULLY DESCRIBED AS TRACT # 8076 AND DESCRIBED IN DOCUMENT NUMBER 1020134 DATED 03/22/2003 AND RECORDED 04/14/2003.

      I have seen ones, approved by the permit people no less, with instructions to the 'bat cave', lyrics from Pink Floyd, and all kinds of weird junk.

      --
      I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
    2. Re:Back in the 80's... by Tapewolf · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I recall that a common graphics viewer those cool new GIF files (among many other formats) wrote that if you continued using their software after 30 days without paying then a demon would be visited by demons who would torment you.

      Graphics Workshop had something like this. In fact:

      If you want to see additional features in Graphic Workshop, register
      it. If we had an Arcturian mega-dollar for everyone who has said
      they'd most certainly register their copy if we'd add just one
      more thing to it, we could buy ourselves a universe and retire.

      Oh yes, should you fail to support this program and continue to
      use it, a leather winged demon of the night will tear itself,
      shrieking blood and fury, from the endless caverns of the nether
      world, hurl itself into the darkness with a thirst for blood on
      its slavering fangs and search the very threads of time for the
      throbbing of your heartbeat. Just thought you'd want to know
      that.

      ...If I remember correctly, you could get a discount if you sent the author a photocopy of the cover of his novel.

  10. When I was in college... by georgewilliamherbert · · Score: 5, Funny

    One of my schoolmates released some software with a custom license, which was basically the old-form original UC Berkeley BSD license with a restriction prohibiting any use by persons in "Country Code F", defined as (paraphrasing from memory):

    "France, Belgium, Quebec, Sengal, Ghana, Did we mention France?"

    I think it was bad experiences with language classes in high school, but I'm not sure.

  11. The humorless answer: by FoolishOwl · · Score: 5, Informative

    The summary left out part of a sentence:

    It's important to note that the top 10 licenses cover 93% of all projects and the top 20 almost 97%.

  12. D&R license by j0nb0y · · Score: 2, Funny

    The D&R license doesn't require anyone to die... you just have to be dead to use software under it. The license even specifies how this is to be accomplished. You're allowed to tell your heirs to use the software on your behalf after you're dead.

    The really puzzling clause is the revocation clause, which not only allows the licensor to revoke the license, but proclaims that the licensor WILL revoke the license, and then the heirs will be punished "to the fullest extent of the law." I believe a court would only find liability for usage AFTER the licensor revoked, regardless of the drafter's intention.

    Another strange clause seems to say that ghosts and angels are not considered dead for purposes of the license. Pure silliness, of course. What court would claim jurisdiction over angels and ghosts? Certainly not a human one. And an inhuman one is not likely to respect software licenses. The drafter made a big mistake here in failing to define ghosts and angels. These words are just begging for a legal definition.

    I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

    --
    If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
  13. Viva la undead nation! by HeckRuler · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, some of us zombie programmers like to keep the code within a nice small circle. It's kind of a undead pride to release some code under the kill and kill-a-like license. Although the PCL's* don't usually understand the brotherhood that we zombies have, we can usually get those spineless incorporeal asses in HR to back us up. But it's not like we're elitists or a specifically close-minded group. We welcome wight web-masters, c/c++ cadavermen, matlab mummies, ZZT-oop zombies, go ghouls, and scripting skeletons. They're all welcome under my licenses.

    *Pointy Crowned Liches

  14. Remember not to use Java.... by fishexe · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...."the design, construction, operation or maintenance of any nuclear facility." That's in Sun's EULA. For real.

    --
    "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
    1. Re:Remember not to use Java.... by parlancex · · Score: 4, Informative

      Windows server licenses have similar articles stating the OS is unsuitable for realtime applications, such as nuclear reactors. I don't know how they reconcile that with Windows for Battleships exactly.

    2. Re:Remember not to use Java.... by rahvin112 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You don't think Windows for the Navy actually runs the mission critical systems like the reactor do you? Regardless, every system on the modern navy has a manual control system, not that you can actually hit a target with manual fire control as was proved many times during WWII, but the controls are there just in case you want to fire 1000 shells and only hit the target once.

    3. Re:Remember not to use Java.... by fishexe · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't know how they reconcile that with Windows for Battleships exactly.

      I think that's a moot point, because nobody uses battleships anymore.

      --
      "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
    4. Re:Remember not to use Java.... by oatworm · · Score: 2, Funny

      Luckily there's also Windows "Small Battleship Edition" (perfect for battle cruisers and the like) and Windows "Carrier Edition" (CE).

    5. Re:Remember not to use Java.... by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Informative

      It was Windows for Warships.

      Kids these days, just don't get alliteration any more.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  15. Re:Now that's.... by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why would someone want a developer to dual license a BSD licensed project? The BSD license is one of the most permissive there is, especially considering not all countries have the concept of public domain. It's not like it was a GPL/D&R dual licensing situation...

    --
    "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)