On 2003-11-07 01:55:19 +0000 Owen Leonard <oleonard@athenscounty.lib.oh.us> wrote:
Part of 'Open Source Month' at WebJunction, an online publication of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center)
Can someone with a personal contact at this publication help me, please? The article "What is Open Source Software?" contains many grave errors and misleading phrases. That is unusual, because the OSI OSD included at the end of the text corrects most of these. The most worrying are: "any modifications to the source code that is distributed must be shared openly with the open source community" This is completely untrue. If you distribute code under an "Open Source" or "Free Software" (I will write "open/free software") licence, then you must offer distribution of source code to those you distribute the object code to. The licence may not force you to release modifications to parties who you did not distribute to. If you make modifications for your own private use, then I think you are not obliged to share them at all, although most would consider it polite to do so if asked. In some cases (BSD-style licences), you may even distribute modified versions without giving users the source code. "Open source software is free" Only if you mean free as in freedom. I sell some of my open/free software, thank you. "Open source software technology is equal to or better than commercial software." Open/free software *is* commercial software sometimes. If you forbid software from being used in commerce (SuSE YaST for example), then it is not open/free software, according to OSI and FSF. This error is repeated again later in the text. "Is free software really any good? Quality and price often have nothing to do with each other." This is confusing the meanings of "free" without good reason. Nothing obliges open/free software to be zero-cost, although I think it probably tends to that limit over time. If these errors can be corrected, I think it would be very beneficial for all. As it stands, it gives libraries a false impression of open/free software which may harm independent suppliers. If no-one has a personal contact, I will approach them directly. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef@jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/