IBM Improving Open Source License

True_Seeker writes "IBM appears to be modifying its open source license (examples with OpenDX and Jikes) to make it more acceptable to the open source community, according to an article at PCWeek. They are even seeking OSI's blessing on it. "

Comments

It's Open Source, as far as I can tell

[Bruce Perens]

This new license is conformant with the Open Source Definition as far as I can tell. I'll defer to the public discussion that will soon be carried out on the license-discuss mailing list, but I don't see any show-stoppers. Early discussion on the Debian-legal list has concentrated on GPL compatibility (it isn't) rather than problems in OSD conformance.

I'm really glad to see that IBM is working with the free software community. I had the opportunity to review and comment on a few pre-public-announcement drafts of this license, and the IBM staff was very cooperative in changing the license to meet the community's needs.

This and the Apple license are important because we are working out how the deep-pockets corporation can participate in Open Source without running rough-shod over the free software community. In both cases, problems with the licenses were aired in public forums and the corporations responded positively.

Thanks

Bruce Perens