[OSGeo-Edu] Free and open source your documentation efforts

[Matthew Perry]

Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> watry at steam.coaps.fsu.edu wrote:
> > Quoting Frank Warmerdam <warmerdam at pobox.com>:
> > The following meets that criteria - Right??
> ...
> > Noncommercial. The user may not use this work for commercial purposes.
>
> No, I don't think so.  If this condition was applied to a software license
> it would make the license not fit the free software definition (ie. it would
> not be OSI certifiable).

On 10/8/06, watry at steam.coaps.fsu.edu <watry at steam.coaps.fsu.edu> wrote:
> So the bottom line is unless we allow the tutorials to be repackaged
> and sold for commercial gain, it is not considered open source?


The fundamental question is "Can a license which prevents the use of
materials in a proprietary product be considered open source?".

I'm no lawyer but isn't that exactly what the GPL (an OSI approved
license) does for software? According to Richard Stallman:

"""
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Stallman [mailto:rms at gnu.org]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 8:41 PM

You will often hear people say that the GPL does not allow use of the
code in commercial software.  This is a subtle confusion.

The GPL does not make any distinction between commercial and
noncommercial software development.  It allows businesses to do all
the same things that individuals and schools are allowed to do.

However, the GPL does forbid use of the code in *proprietary*
(non-free) software.  The GPL does not allow adding any additional
restrictions to any program that includes the code.  So any program
that incorporates the GPL-covered code, whether it be commercial,
academic, or avocational, must be released as free software.
"""

There is the subtle distinction between "commerical" and "proprietary"
to consider. But if we apply the same logic to documentation, a
gpl-like license would require that any product which incorporates
these docs be released as "free documentation"?

Any thoughts?
-- 
Matthew T. Perry
GIS Analyst / Software Engineer
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
work: perry at nceas.ucsb.edu
web: http://www.perrygeo.net