[Qgis-psc] QGIS licence (was: QGIS on iOS was QGIS for Mobile (Android))

[Nyall Dawson]

On Fri, 18 Oct 2019 at 04:30, Tim Sutton <tim at kartoza.com> wrote:

> Yes that is exactly my point. The point of it would be that we have the mechanism to change our license e.g. to add an exception for distribution on the apple store if we want to. We have the flexibilility to change any part of our code base but somehow we don't have the same freedom over our license.
>
> Who knows in the future what technology will bring and what delivery mechanisms will exist that our users gravitate towards? We need to be able to meet there where they use their devices and being able to make (with consensus) tweaks to our license is vital to support that.

Exactly! This is something which weighs heavily on my mind.

An example: I don't think anyone would be surprised if a future
release of mac os removed the support for ALL software installation
outside of the app store. It's an entirely conceivable situation and
isn't some black-mirror-esque sci-fi future. Could happen within the
next 6 months and no-one would say "I didn't see THAT coming!".

I also don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine a shift in
enterprise based Windows installs where IT staff (or management) could
put policies in place banning all non store-based installs. (To
qualify: I'm not saying Windows would go the apple-style app-store
only approach, rather that organisations could make internal policies
of this nature).

If this happens, we could sit up on white tower and preach that
everyone should move to Linux. But the harsh reality is that (most)
spatial analysts just AREN'T the people who control these policies or
their IT environment. My experience is the total opposite, and users
often have absolutely no influence on these policies, regardless of
how much it impacts their work.

So if either of these situations comes about, we risk fading off into obscurity.

I HATE unknown risks. I would MUCH rather be aware and knowledgeable
about potential risks well in advance of them becoming concrete
issues.

The software world will be very different in 5 years time. Heck, even
in 2 years time it will little resemble what we see today. I'd love
for us to acknowledge this, plan for it, do our due-diligence research
and have some options for when things do change under our feet.

Let's not shy away from tricky things like this. It's a great
opportunity to plan ahead and make some decisions about what best
practices a modern open-source project can follow today, and how
others are planning for the future.

Nyall

> I think discussions of selling QGIS to the highest bidder are just adding fearmongering into the discussion : I cant see any way that someone could achieve that within our current governance structures, nor can I think of anyone in our developer community who might actually be entertaining such an idea.



>
> Regards
>
> Tim
>
>> Cheers.
>>
>> --
>> Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
>> QGIS.ORG Chair:
>> http://planet.qgis.org/planet/user/28/tag/qgis%20board/
>
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