[Verse-dev] http://www.uni-verse.org/ expired 07/13/2011

[Peter Finn]

Hi Jiri

>>On the other hand I like GPL from perspective of verse2 developer.

I am not sure I fully understand the benefits of using GPL or a Dual License over the current BSD. The worst thing that can ever happen to an open source project is the code is forked.  When you have a Dual GPL / BSD license anyone who develops code on the GPL trunk or even looks at the code should not work on the BSD trunk or there will be immediate concern that contamination of the BSD code will 
or has occured.  Even if you have a team of IP Lawyers ensuring the appropriate governance and declarations are in place to assure anyone working on the GPL trunk does not contaminate the BSD trunk this will cause additional barriers for organizations wishing to use the code. Companies who want to use the BSD source will now also need their own team of lawyers vetting your governance process and ensuring that no code contamination has occurred.  Unfortunately the costs and the risks are just to high so the usual decision is to move on and find source with a more liberal license (Modified BSD MIT APACHE etc) 

If you do decide to implement a dual license what trunk would you be planning on working on the BSD or the GPL trunk?  If it is the GPL trunk you can't move code from the GPL to the BSD trunk so the BSD trunk would immediately die.   If it is the BSD trunk your working on then who will be managing or contributing to the GPL trunk. If you decide to work both trunks your license governance process will immediately be questioned.  

At the end of the day it is your decision as the BSD license unlike GPL / LGPL license is flexible enough to allow you to make that decision.  

I do recognize you have a great vision of a firewall friendly optimized protocol with the potential to connect browsers and I applaud your effort.  The only reason I questioned your decision to change the license is I honestly want you to be successful. 

Good luck 

Nink 

> From: jiri.hnidek at tul.cz
> To: verse-dev at blender.org
> Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 09:58:27 +0200
> Subject: Re: [Verse-dev] http://www.uni-verse.org/ expired  07/13/2011
> 
> Hi,
> thanks for short guide to copyright law :-). It seems that GPL makes
> many people angry. I don't want to make people angry :-). On the other
> hand I like GPL from perspective of verse2 developer. Could we find some
> conclusion? For instance, is it possible to use dual licensing? For
> example: svn trunk of verse would be GPL/LGPL ever and every major
> version would be released in two versions: GPL/LGP and BSD. Does any
> software do it in this way?
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Jiri
> 
> David Given píše v Po 08. 08. 2011 v 20:41 +0100:
> > On 08/08/11 12:42, Jiri Hnidek wrote:
> > [...]
> > > changing licence from BSD to GPL (verse server) and LGPL (verse library)
> > > is on my TODO list. I'm not expert in licenses and I don't know if it's
> > > so easy and if it is possible at all.
> > 
> > The short guide to copyright law is:
> > 
> > - only the *copyright holder* can change the license of a piece of code.
> > 
> > - but if the licenses are compatible, you can distribute a bundle of
> > code by several different authors, with several different licenses,
> > under a single aggregate license.
> > 
> > It *is* possible to take somebody else's BSD or MIT code and incorporate
> > it into a GPL project (although you're still bound by the terms in the
> > BSD or MIT licenses, i.e. correct attribution). It's not possible to do
> > it the other way round.
> > 
> > [...]
> > > BTW: IMHO BSD license is less strict for developers than GPL and LGPL.
> > > You can fork it and sell this fork without need to give forked source
> > > code back to the community. On the other side, it's not advantage for
> > > the community. ;-)
> > 
> > Only if you exclude people writing commercial software from 'community',
> > I'm afraid, because for them the GPL is the kiss of death.
> > 
> > Trying to incorporate GPL code (and, to a large extent, LGPL code) into
> > commercial software is just *too hard*. The licensing restrictions are
> > too onerous, and if you make a mistake the legal repercussions can be
> > huge. I write the stuff for a living and while we'll enthusiastically
> > use (and endorse) any BSD or MIT code we can lay our hands on, we
> > daren't touch GPL code with the regulation 10-foot pole.
> > 
> > So, if you release verse2 under a GPL license, it will instantly become
> > useless to a very, very large portion of your target audience --- i.e.,
> > anyone who wants to make money by writing games using it...
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Verse-dev mailing list
> > Verse-dev at blender.org
> > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/verse-dev
> 
> 
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