[OpenLayers-Dev] RFC: Changing the License on OpenLayers

[John R. Frank]

On Wed, 10 Oct 2007, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>
> I'm encouraged by Metacarta's intent to propose the "Clear BSD" be
> incorporated into the next version of the BSD. However I'm concerned by
> the delay engaging the BSD community, and it seems no resources are
> allocated to the task. Will Metacarta still resource license concerns
> after Openlayers has completed OSGeo graduation?

Yes, at this point, MetaCarta Labs plans to support it indefinitely.

We all share your concern about license proliferation.  That's why we took
so long in creating the CBSD; we were surprised not to find an existing
alternative, despite the existing legal analysis indicating its need [1].

As you know, there are several communities interested in open source
licenses.  The OSI discuss list is one part of it.  The Regents of UC
might be counted as another.  On the urgency-versus-importance plane,
seeking OSI approval for the CBSD has been high importance and low urgency
compared with other things on our plate.  That was amplified by turmoil on
the OSI discuss list.  It remains high importance; I hope to boost its
urgency soon.  Fortunately, OSGEO graduation need not block on this.


> That said, (this time on a public list) I'm in favor of migrating to the
> Open BSD as waiting for an updated BSD license is likely to take years.

Did you mean to write Clear BSD?

John




[1] http://labs.metacarta.com/license-explanation.html