On Jun 5, 2015, at 0517, Fergal Byrne <fergalbyrnedub...@gmail.com> wrote:
> An old-school C++ dev and I have started an initiative to combine the best of > Open Source with a limited commercial license. It's not a new idea - MySQL > creator Monty Widenius thought of something less viral in 2013 [1]. > > The Time-Bombed Open License [2] is the commercial side of a dual-licensed > project, best paired with something strongly viral like GPL. Essentially, the > project owner has 2 (up to 4) years to commercialise their product and then > must go fully Open Source. The license is viral, so any commercial licensees > must also use the TBOL and eventually open up their derived products. > > One major idea is to foster a culture of disruption of exploitative > industries. If you can develop software to disrupt in your local market, your > innovation can be used similarly by others elsewhere, and each new startup > can improve on your work while earning their keep. Eventually, all derived > products become Open Source and are free to all. > > We'd appreciate any comments, feedback and assistance from the wonderful > Clojure community - we're up on twitter at @OccupyStartups. I’ve written a lawyer friend who does more than I do with licensing; I teach in this area but don’t normally advise clients on it. I would be concerned that a court might not apply the license as intended, but then of course- you’d have to analyze whether these things ever wind up in front of a judge. This timed scheme seems like an overcomplicated way of achieving the desired result. It would be simpler, and less restrictive on the dev, to simply escrow your source. If you should become unable to support the software, the escrow agent is directed to publicize the source. I wrote a bit more about related issues for Mailpile: http://franksiler.com/on-choosing-open-licenses/ Frank Franklin M. Siler Counselor at Law ||| franksiler.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
