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Lunch n Learn - OSS Licenses (WIP)
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oss-licenses.md

OSS Licenses

Open Source Software

  • We use it all the time
  • I've been curious about it
  • Good excuse to look into it

DISCLAIMERS:

  • Not a lawyer
  • Not an expert
  • Just a dude
  • Let's learn this together

Free Software

Not about Freeware: Free as in Freedom

If you cannot modify your software, then it's designed to serve someone else's interests over yours.

Free Software Foundation:

"Nearly all free software is open source, and nearly all open source software is free.""

Four Freedoms

By the Free Software Foundation’s definition, Free Software guarantees you:

  1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
  2. The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
  3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
  4. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

Copyright ©

  • prohibits reproduction, adaptation, or distribution

  • "copyright law" is a thing

  • Country specific

  • Mickey Mouse story - Sailias

Copyleft (ɔ)

  • Play on words
  • Creative use of copyright law
  • Ensures freely available
  • Resulting copies or adaptations are also bound by same agreement
  • Opposite of Permissive

GNU General Public License (GPL)

  • Most widely used one (56%)
  • First example of copyleft
  • Originally written by Richard Stallman (1989)
  • Includes an optional "any later version" clause

Used by

  • Linux kernel (locked to v2)
  • GCC
  • Wordpress
  • VLC

Steve Balmer:

Declared code released under GPL as useless to commercial sector

Can only be used if the resulting surrounding code becomes GPL

"a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches".

App Store

Can't support GPL - Adium (2011)

B/c Apple applies DRM and doesn't distribute source code

VLC was pulled off as well.

Basically

If you want to force your competitors to help you, the GPL is attractive.

Permissive

"copy center" - term coined by Kirk McKusick (BSD)

"take it down to the copy center and make as many copies as you want."

BSD

Permits anyone to retain the option of commercializing final results with minimal legal issues.

Microsoft Windows has used BSD-derived code in its implementation of TCP/IP

Darwin, the system on which Apple's Mac OS X is built, is a derivative of 4.4BSD-Lite2 and FreeBSD

Apache

  • Rights cannot expire or be revoked
  • Not copyleft; permissive
  • Patent grants
  • Considered by many as much better than BSD

Apache: 4 pages, ~1,400 words BSD: less than 1 page, ~270 words

MIT

  • Do whatever
  • Just a few paragraphs long; no protection
  • As long as you include a copy of MIT license
  • Not copyleft, fully permissive
  • In fact, "copy center" I think

Creative Commons

  • "Sharealike" (more restrictive) - Not sure I get it fully, yet. Sorry!
  • Not meant for released software
  • Not compatible with GPL

WTFPL – Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License

http://www.wtfpl.net/

My fav one.

Moral rights

  • Ability of authors to control the eventual fate of their works
  • Protect reputation rather than monetary value of a work.
  • Under copyright.
  • Some countries allow you to waive

References / Links

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