[OpenLayers-Dev] Apparently Our license isn't very Findable

[Erik Uzureau]

I came across a quote[1] today complaining that the license for
OpenLayers is not hard to find. I went to the page myself to check
it out, and it does seem like a problem we should attend to. Most
other open source projects will have very clear links to the license
from the homepage, but we do not.

We should probably do the same, and as long as we're counting
ponies, it would probably be a handy thing to have a "license FAQ"
page where we explain what the deal is with the license and how
to use it, etc. We could even have some "case studies" or
"testimonials" sections of how different people have dealt with the
license.

--e

[1] "For that matter, if you are working in a commercial setting (you
said the word "client" so I assume you might be), you also have the
labor/legal cost of parsing the various licensing agreements of the
different bits and pieces you have chosen to integrate to see if you
can even use those "open source" bits in your commercial application.
That is sometimes not so easy, as I invite anyone who is not familiar
with OpenLayers to see for themselves: go to the
http://www.openlayers.org/ site and see for yourself just how long it
takes you to even find a license let alone how long it takes you to
figure out exactly the limits of commercial activity you can do with
it. This is not easy for someone completely new to that module. I
realize that giving the faintest flying hoot about licensing is not
something that script kiddies care about, but it is something that
responsble folks like James and you, the gentle reader, and I care
about.]" -- from
http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/02/05/bringing-open-source-gis-into-an-esri-shop/#comment-33109