On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 04:31:18 -0500 Daniel Carrera wrote: [...] > 1.1. "Commercial Use" means distribution or otherwise making the > Documentation available to a third party. Huh? :-? So when I put (say) a tutorial on my personal website and let websurfers download it (without any fee whatsoever) I am doing "Commercial Use"... Surprise! Someone give me a dictionary! :-( [...] > 3.2. Availability of Documentation. > > Any Modification which You create or to which You contribute must be > made available publicly in Editable Form under the terms of this > License via a fixed medium or an accepted Electronic Distribution > Mechanism. What does this mean? Am I compelled to publish each derivative work I create? Even the ones I am not happy with? This seems to be forced distribution, which is non-free. > > 3.3. Description of Modifications. > > All Documentation to which You contribute must identify the changes > You made to create that Documentation and the date of any change. You > must include a prominent statement that the Modification is derived, > directly or indirectly, from Original Documentation provided by the > Initial Writer and include the name of the Initial Writer in the > Documentation or via an electronic link that describes the origin or > ownership of the Documentation. So far, so good. > The foregoing change documentation may > be created by using an electronic program that automatically tracks > changes to the Documentation, and such changes must be available > publicly for at least five years following release of the changed > Documentation. Huh? What am I forced to keep publicly available for at least five years? I don't even quite know what I will be doing on next monday, let alone 5 years from now! :-( It seems that this may impose significant costs and burden: non-free. [...] > 5.2. Effect of New Versions. > > Once Documentation has been published under a particular version of > the License, You may always continue to use it under the terms of that > version. You may also choose to use such Documentation under the terms > of any subsequent version of the License published by > __________________[Insert name of the foundation, company, Initial > Writer, or whoever may modify this License]. No one other than > _________________ [Insert name of the foundation, company, Initial > Writer, or whoever may modify this License] has the right to modify > the terms of this License. Filling in the name of the Initial Writer, > Original Documentation or Contributor in the notice described in the > Appendix shall not be deemed to be Modifications of this License. Not a Freeness issue (I believe), but simply a comment on this clause: inserting two different entities as license-modifiers makes the two resulting PDL variants incompatible with each other. Correct me, if I'm wrong... [...] > 10.0 MISCELLANEOUS. > > This License represents the complete agreement concerning the subject > matter hereof. If any provision of this License is held to be > unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent > necessary to make it enforceable. This License shall be governed by > California law, excluding its conflict-of-law provisions. Choice of law, which is OK. > With respect > to disputes or any litigation relating to this License, the losing > party is responsible for costs, including without limitation, court > costs and reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses. So be it. > The application of > the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale > of Goods is expressly excluded. Any law or regulation which provides > that the language of a contract shall be construed against the drafter > shall not apply to this License. Another magic license which claims to have the Power-to-nuke-laws(TM). <humour class="tragicomedy"> Maybe it's the way to deal with software patents: publish under a license that says "The application of patent laws is expressly excluded". </humour> -- Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. ...................................................................... Francesco Poli GnuPG Key ID = DD6DFCF4 Key fingerprint = C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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