License needed!

[Rich Shepard]

On Sat, 9 Oct 1999, Markus Neteler wrote:

> in *my* opinion it would be interesting to check if GRASS could be
> published unter "Gnu public licence" (GPL). But it is not my decision. I
> suggest that you *all* tell us about your opinion. Perhaps from that we
> can find out about the general opinion in the GRASS community and forward
> this to the copyright holders.

Markus, et al.:

  I'm not a lawyer -- I don't even play one on TV -- and this is the first
I've read about this issue. Off the top of my head, and without knowing what
has been discussed before, I agree with the idea that GRASS needs solid
protection. More protection than that provided by a copyright.

  I had the impression that GRASS was distributed under the GPL, but that
this license had some subtle loopholes which were being exploited by
commercial interests. It is in the best interests of all of us users and
developers that GRASS and its source code remain open and readily available.

  Because I live in the midst of the Silicon Forest here in the upper, left
corner of the US, I know that there is a large collection of moss-covered,
high-tech, intellectual property rights attorneys who are running around
chasing after new software. If it's in the groups' interest -- and with the
permission of the powers-that-be -- I can put out some feelers and see if we
can get some pro bono opinions from lawyers in the know.

  If we are going to pursue this topic more, I would greatly appreciate
reading the history: what was the original concern (and why it was raised),
what was written by whom in response, and so on. If this is a valid concern,
then it behooves all of us to do what we can to resolve it in our favor.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

                       Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
              Making environmentally-responsible mining happen. (SM)         
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