Re: Open Software License v2.1

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden@twcny.rr.com>]

Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote:

> No.  The GPL terminates only for non-compliance, and places no
> restrictions beyond those imposed by law.  That's free.  Attempts to
> bargain in a license, to say "I'll give you a license to this stuff,
> but only if you give me a license to stuff you already own" are
> non-free.  All this messing about with termination clauses is just an
> attempt to strike that bargain.  It's a pretty fair bargain, too --
> it's just not free.

Not quite.  Remember that he premise of the narrow
termination-on-patent-lawsuit clause is that patents on software are
invalid garbage.

So the bargain is more like
"I'll give you a license to this stuff, but only if you don't pretend that
you have some sort of rights over it, which you don't."

Oddly akin to prohibiting stripping copyright notices when you think about
it that way.

-- 
This space intentionally left blank.