No subject

"branding" were very confusing.  I don't think they would hassle
someone about it, but I didn't know what I would technically be
required to do to be considered compliant with the requirement.

The other issue is that it includes the fairly common "US Export
Control" requirement.  You aren't allowed to send MrSID software
to evil nations like N. Korea or Iraq.  I believe it is typically considere=
d
sufficient for you to have a click though license verifying that folks aren=
't
from any of these Evil Nations (tm).  Luckily these folks are apparently=20
willing to adhere to such click through restrictions. =20

In all fairness, this restrictions isn't Lizardtech's fault.  It is somethi=
ng
applied to many US software packages.  A bit of a drag on US industry
if you ask me.=20

>I thought it looked OK
> to build it into open source software for binary distribution (ie
> GDAL).  I hadn't heard about their close-minded view of Mapserver
> though.  Maybe I should remove it from my GIS Libs package (which is
> used by my separate MapServer package) for Mac OS X?

I wouldn't take this "close-minded view of MapServer" to literally.=20
I know lots of folks using MrSID with MapServer and in many cases
Lizardtech has put in some effort to help support them.  Likewise, while
the free ECW SDK license does restrict use of the SDK on "servers"
in their free GPL-like option, it is their intention that it be usable with
MapServer, and as Howard says they are working on revising the
license.=20

I personally hope that companies promoting technologies like
MrSID and ECW will see the confusion and "drag" on adoption=20
from complex licenses and consider streamlining them.  But it isn't
necessarily due to ill will on their part.  It is the nature of the folks
who write software licenses to make them very lop-sided because in
the normal shrink-wrapped software world everyone just says "I agree"
and goes on.  I would like to think that that redistributors of software
(such as Howard or I), do try to be more concientious in adhering to
license restrictions which can cause problems.  That is one of the
reasons I tried to pick the most string-free license for GDAL I could find.=
=20

Best regards,
--=20
---------------------------------------+-----------------------------------=
---
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.c=
om
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent