Re: RealNetworks wants to go open source
On Mon, Jul 22, 2002 at 10:38:19PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote:
> > As you maybe already know, RealNetworks (the guys behind RealPlayer
> > client and server) want to release their next version under an
> > OSI-certified licence. See http://open.helixcommunity.org
>
> Clause 13.7 of the RPSL violates DFSG 5. It discriminates against
> people who are not under the jurisdiction of the United States
> government.
I don't think it discriminates. In fact it treats everyone equally :)
It might be said to discriminate against people on the US government's
hate list. But the restrictions it encodes in the license are clearly
counter to DFSG 1 so I come to the same conclusion.
By the way, the very fact that there is a clause 13.7 bothers me.
I half-seriously propose the following modification to the DFSG:
11. License Must Be Comprehensible To Programmers
It must be possible for users to understand their responsibilities
under this license when distributing modified versions of the work,
without spending more than, say, ten minutes on reading and
understanding the license, and without having to be specially trained
in contract law.
There's objective evidence that the GPL does not pass this test (published
daily on gnu.misc.discuss), but I'm willing to grandfather it in :-)
--
Richard Braakman
"I sense a disturbance in the force"
"As though millions of voices cried out, and ran apt-get."
(Anthony Towns about the Debian 3.0 release)
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