[Koha] Koha demo links on koha.org

[Thomas Dukleth]

[Clarifying an omission in my previous message]

The problem with LEK not being distributed, and therefore, not open source
is not merely a methodological problem about open source development.  The
problem is that without access to the source code, the freedom of LEK's
ultimate users is not being respected.  Respecting user freedom in the
software context means the freedom to use, study, modify, and to
redistribute those modifications sharing them with others.  That freedom
gives users control over the software they use when using free software. 
Users of Koha expect to have that freedom which is a point of confusion
for users when LEK has Koha as part of its name.

Unfortunately, under the GPL LEK like Koha does not require distribution
to its network users.  Without distribution, the GPL is ineffective.  The
issues involved in the license and the merits of whether Koha should adopt
an alternative GPL compatible license are issues which we should avoid
merely as a response to LEK.  License issues should be carefully
considered in future but no license will compel cooperation.  User freedom
had been quite well respected even for network Koha users in the past. 
Cooperation is needed for any license to have full effect.  The license
merely helps achieve that cooperation.

The effective course now as I stated below is first to quickly establish a
foundation in a manner which can be quick which would mean being held by
another foundation.  In the absence of a change of stance from LibLime,
Kyle Hall's suggestion about alternative websites is a good next step.


Thomas Dukleth
Agogme
109 E 9th Street, 3D
New York, NY  10003
USA
http://www.agogme.com
+1 212-674-3783


On Sat, October 10, 2009 15:54, Thomas Dukleth wrote:
> Reply inline:
>
> On Fri, October 9, 2009 13:34, Paul Poulain wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> We (community) lived with www.liblime.com/koha for years, but now, the
>> main problem is that it is not a demo of the Koha anyone can download.
>> And it is even not open source.
>
> If LEK is written in Perl and anyone could download a copy without
> obfiscation; then it would necessarily be open source.  Not being more
> cooperative with the Koha community might be a problem even if there would
> be a downloadable LEK but not as great a problem.
>
> The real problem to be remedied is to find how to encourage LibLime to
> make LEK downloadable, not at some future time, but now.
>
>> So it has nothing to do on www.koha.org
>> There is another related problem: liblime host & own koha.org domain
>> name.
>> So we can't do a lot of things about that, except crying & asking (which
>> we must do, for sure, thanks owen to have pointed this problem)
>
> The question which deserves asking until a proper answer is given is what
> the community can do to encourage LEK to become downloadable now.
> Certainly, linking to software presented as Koha which does not adhere to
> the principles which the community has upheld for Koha is a serious
> problem which may damage the reputation of Koha if it persists.  I too
> thank Owen Leonard for alerting everyone to the discrepancy between the
> demonstration link to page featuring LEK demonstrations for which the
> source code is not available but the linked page does not link to a
> working demonstration of Koha.
>
> I would prefer that we continue to ask LibLime to make the source code to
> LEK available and how the community may help make that happen with the
> understanding that linking to LEK without the source code available is not
> acceptable.  In any case, we should prepare to "do a lot of things about
> that".  We should make that preparation through a community organised as a
> legal entity with the capacity to act as a unified community to offer at
> least some partial remedies having a significant effect.
>
> Kyle Hall had offered some partial remedy.
>
> First, we need to organise the Koha project under an existing foundation
> to quickly provide the capacity to act as a unified community on Kyle's
> suggestion and to consider other options which may be pursued as well.
>
>
> Thomas Dukleth
> Agogme
> 109 E 9th Street, 3D
> New York, NY  10003
> USA
> http://www.agogme.com
> +1 212-674-3783
>
>
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