[Incubator] PyWPS

[Arnulf Christl (aka Seven)]

On Sat, 2010-03-13 at 10:02 +0100, Peter Baumann wrote:
> hm, I personally do not feel fine with such an attempt to concentrate
> power in one institution that additionally has not totally clarified
> legal structures.
> I much more prefer the decentralized approach of leaving copyright
> with projects, which I believe is in the spirit of the Internet.
> -Peter

Peter, 
I agree 100% that in an ideal world this would be ideal. But in our
world most (?) project copyrights are not owned by the contributing
individuals but by a single legal entity. If I can choose whether
copyright lies with an arbitrary legal entity or with OSGeo then I would
always choose the latter. 

If your project is a legal entity - fine. But this needs a lot more than
just saying, "Oh, we are a group now". This was where the GeoTools
projects originally came from and it took quite some time and wriggling
to get it straightened out.

Wrt to OSGeo owning the copyright - to me the process is clear and the
legal structures are too, I cannot foresee any problems. It was Chris
who pointed out that he misses something but he did follow up clearly
stating what needs to be changed to make him happy. 

Best regards, 
Arnulf. 

> Arnulf Christl (aka Seven) wrote: 
> > On Fri, 2010-03-12 at 13:49 -0500, Daniel Morissette wrote:
> >   
> > > Andrea Aime wrote:
> > >     
> > > > Mind, GeoServer never actually used the dual licensing scheme, though
> > > > there has been some discussion on whether it would be possible
> > > > for OpenPlans (the copyright holder) to sell GeoServer source
> > > > code under a commercial license.
> > > > 
> > > >       
> > > Um... I never realized this dual licensing possibility during 
> > > GeoServer's incubation.
> > > 
> > > Dual licensing / single copyright holder should become a question to 
> > > address for future incubated projects.
> > >     
> > 
> > This was my primary intention when asking in December [1] whether OSGeo
> > Incubation should more explicitly nudge projects into turning over their
> > Copyright. The answers were rather indifferent so I did not follow up. 
> > 
> > Chris pointed out that from his perspective the process and resulting
> > legal structure was not well defined yet, one reason why OpenLayers
> > never really made an effort to move their copyright under the hood of
> > OSGeo. Maybe this is a chance to pick this topic up again? 
> > 
> > My personal opinion is that the copyright of all OSGeo software should
> > naturally lie with OSGeo. As simple as that. I cannot see any advantage
> > of having the copyright elsewhere and so far nobody came up with any
> > good reason. But there is no hurry or pressure to do anything. 
> > 
> > Regards, 
> > 
> > [1] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2009-December/006471.html
> > 
> >   
> > > > There was not much discussion given such an opportunity never actually
> > > > came into existence, but there seemed to be agreement that it could
> > > > have been a good thing provided all the money gathered from the
> > > > sell would have been redirected back to the community in terms
> > > > of support, new features, and whatnot. So, an amount of money
> > > > that the PSC would have been in control on how to spend.
> > > > 
> > > > I might be wrong on the details, but the spirit was "it's ok
> > > > as long as money it goes back into growing the project".
> > > > 
> > > > The idea is, it would be a channel to allow entities that are
> > > > scared off by the GPL to support the project evolution nonetheless.
> > > > 
> > > >       
> > > We'd have to be careful if we go that route: "growing the project" might 
> > > have a different meaning depending on which side of the fence you sit.
> > > 
> > > For instance, I'm sure the ExtJS guys think what they're doing with 
> > > their dual license, and updates provided only to paying users [1] is in 
> > > the best interest of the project, but from my point of view (as an 
> > > outsider), they are scaring away potential contributors, and creating a 
> > > huge incentive for alternatives (such as GeojQuery to replace GeoExt 
> > > whose users are stuck with the GPL and this commercial license vs 
> > > updates issue).
> > > 
> > > [1] http://www.geoext.org/pipermail/dev/2009-November/000361.html
> > > 
> > > My 0.02$ is that from the point of view of a private company who 
> > > controls an open source project this approach makes sense, but from the 
> > > point of view of a foundation such as OSGeo it is a no-go. Sometimes 
> > > it's tough to wear two hats and make sure we wear the right hat at the 
> > > right time.
> > > 
> > > Daniel
> > >     
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >   
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Peter Baumann
>  - Professor of Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen
>    www.faculty.jacobs-university.de/pbaumann
>    mail: p.baumann at jacobs-university.de
>    tel: +49-421-200-3178, fax: +49-421-200-493178
>  - Executive Director, rasdaman GmbH Bremen (HRB 147737)
>    www.rasdaman.com, mail: baumann at rasdaman.com
>    tel: 0800-rasdaman, fax: 0800-rasdafax, mobile: +49-173-5837882
> "Si forte in alienas manus oberraverit hec peregrina epistola incertis ventis dimissa, sed Deo commendata, precamur ut ei reddatur cui soli destinata, nec preripiat quisquam non sibi parata." (mail disclaimer, AD 10xx)
> 
> 



-- 
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