[Koha] Koha in the news
MJ Ray
mjr at dsl.pipex.com
Sat Nov 8 00:36:24 NZDT 2003
On 2003-11-07 01:55:19 +0000 Owen Leonard
<oleonard at 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.
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