Sun's Java 2 license

Robert Harley (Robert.Harley@inria.fr)
Fri, 26 Feb 1999 18:32:00 +0100 (MET)


Ernie wrote:
>So, what is the overall feeling of the 'open source' community, at least as
>represented by those FoRKers who consider themselves UNIX hackers of some
>sort.
>
>Is the SCSL a good step, or a lame attempt to innoculate against 'real' open
>source stuff?

Roy wrote:
>I'll be at O'Reilly's open source summit next week, so I am interested
>in hearing people's opinion of the new MPL and Sun's CSL.

MPL good. SCSL bad.

As far as I can tell (OK, so I skimmed over Sun's Web pages after
all), the only "free" bit is that you can work for Sun for free.

Free speech? You're free to listen to wise old Sun but you cannot say
anything yourself without express written permission.

Free beer? You can have the beer, but you have to pay to actually
drink it.

All the buzzwords, none of the benefits.

I'd like to say that Sun's license is irrelevant to the free-software
/ open-source / whatever-you-want-to-call-it community, but it's not.

It's relevant because Sun is clearly aiming their pitch straight at us
in an attempt to gain developer mind-share.

So the question seems to come down to: is it a farce, an insult or a danger?

Bye,
Rob.