[ale] Ubuntu and the price of Unity

[Don Lachlan]

There is no requirement that code be released under an "open" or "free" license.

Canonical Contributor Agreement:

``6. Canonical will ordinarily make the Assigned Contributions
available to the public under a "Free Software Licence", according to
the definition of that term published by the Free Software Foundation
from time to time. Canonical may also, in its discretion, make the
Assigned Contributions available to the public under other license
terms.``

http://www.canonical.com/system/files/Canonical%20Contributor%20Agreement%2C%20ver%202.5.pdf
(from http://upstart.ubuntu.com/wiki/CopyrightAssignment)

Nothing there to stop Canonical (or whoever owns/controls it in the
future) from closing up all the repositories and releasing binary-only
versions under whatever restrictive license terms. Very unlikely, but
still non-zero. That agreement says it's only a free project TODAY.

-Don

On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 12:15 AM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 11:49 PM, James Sumners <james.sumners at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Let me sum that article up simply: the GNOME project doesn't like
>> Canonical's Unity project because it might be more popular than their
>> in-development "Shell" project.
>
> That's not what I read. GNOME is wary because Cannonical  requires/uses a
> copyright/license scheme that signs away copyright to Cannonical and allows
> for closed-source proprietary code. That is very bad from a GNOME
> perspective as they got started because of QT license issues with the
> framework for KDE.
>>
>> Well, who cares? Ubuntu isn't GNOME just like it isn't Debian. They
>> can do whatever the hell they please as long as it doesn't upset their
>> users. If the GNOME developers don't like it, they can use a different
>> distribution.
>>
>> On Monday, January 3, 2011, Watson, Keith <krwatson at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
>> > Ubuntu and the price of Unity
>> >
>> > http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Ubuntu-and-the-price-of-Unity-1156110.html
>> >
>> > http://preview.tinyurl.com/23yaw8n
>> >
>> > keith
>>
>> --
>> James Sumners
>> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>>
>> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
>> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
>> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
>> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>>
>> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
>> CH:D 59
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
>
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly in chains.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
>