[mapserver-users] Question about the License.

[Martin, Daniel]

I've read over the license,  <http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/license.html>
http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/license.html, and I have a question.  I can
understand the most complex computer terminology, yet the simplest legal
document leaves my dumbfounded.  Does the license require open-sourcing
derivative works?  It doesn't appear to, to me.  But it does say:  
 
______
"Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: 
 
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies of this Software or works derived from this Software. "
_____
 
It doesn't seem to make sense to include the statement "use, copy, modify,
merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software",
with a closed source product.  Furthermore, research on MapServer has turned
up more than one commercial product that seem to be entirely based on
MapServer.
 
Let me state up front that I have no intention on releasing derivative works
of MapServer, nor do I think my company ever would.  In my free time, I
contribute to open-source products myself, and I don't need to be sold on
the benefits and nobility of open-source.  I am totally in love with the
great product the contributors to MapServer have produced, and feel a
definite debt to them.  
 
However, when I talk to my management, our legal standing with products we
produce is one of the first things they ask (and have asked about
MapServer).  Even though we never sell software, and most likely never
will...they ask the question.
 
Thanks,
Dan Martin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/mapserver-users/attachments/20020617/2b08eaa7/attachment.htm>