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@@ -3,47 +3,47 @@ in the public domain:
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1. Public domain vs. viral licenses
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-Why is this library public domain?
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-Because more people will use it. Because it's not viral, people are
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-not obligated to give back, so you could argue that it hurts the
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-development of it, and then because it doesn't develop as well it's
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-not as good, and then because it's not as good, in the long run
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-maybe fewer people will use it. I have total respect for that
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-opinion, but I just don't believe it myself for most software.
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+ Why is this library public domain?
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+ Because more people will use it. Because it's not viral, people are
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+ not obligated to give back, so you could argue that it hurts the
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+ development of it, and then because it doesn't develop as well it's
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+ not as good, and then because it's not as good, in the long run
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+ maybe fewer people will use it. I have total respect for that
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+ opinion, but I just don't believe it myself for most software.
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2. Public domain vs. attribution-required licenses
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-The primary difference between public domain and, say, a Creative Commons
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-commercial / non-share-alike / attribution license is solely the
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-requirement for attribution. (Similarly the BSD license and such.)
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-While I would *appreciate* acknowledgement and attribution, I believe
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-that it is foolish to place a legal encumberment (i.e. a license) on
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-the software *solely* to get attribution.
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+ The primary difference between public domain and, say, a Creative Commons
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+ commercial / non-share-alike / attribution license is solely the
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+ requirement for attribution. (Similarly the BSD license and such.)
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+ While I would *appreciate* acknowledgement and attribution, I believe
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+ that it is foolish to place a legal encumberment (i.e. a license) on
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+ the software *solely* to get attribution.
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-In other words, I'm arguing that PD is superior to the BSD license and
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-the Creative Commons 'Attribution' license. If the license offers
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-anything besides attribution -- as does, e.g., CC NonCommercial-ShareAlike,
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-or the GPL -- that's a separate discussion.
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+ In other words, I'm arguing that PD is superior to the BSD license and
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+ the Creative Commons 'Attribution' license. If the license offers
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+ anything besides attribution -- as does, e.g., CC NonCommercial-ShareAlike,
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+ or the GPL -- that's a separate discussion.
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3. Other aspects of BSD-style licenses besides attribution
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-Permissive licenses like zlib and BSD license are perfectly reasonable
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-in their requirements, but they are very wordy and
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-have only two benefits over public domain: legally-mandated
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-attribution and liability-control. I do not believe these
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-are worth the excessive verbosity and user-unfriendliness
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-these licenses induce, especially in the single-file
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-case where those licenses tend to be at the top of
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-the file, the first thing you see.
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-
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-To the specific points, I have had no trouble receiving
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-attribution for my libraries; liability in the face of
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-no explicit disclaimer of liability is an open question,
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-but one I have a lot of difficulty imagining there being
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-any actual doubt about in court. Sometimes I explicitly
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-note in my libraries that I make no guarantees about them
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-being fit for purpose, but it's pretty absurd to do this;
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-as a whole, it comes across as "here is a library to decode
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-vorbis audio files, but it may not actually work and if
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-you have problems it's not my fault, but also please
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-report bugs so I can fix them".
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+ Permissive licenses like zlib and BSD license are perfectly reasonable
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+ in their requirements, but they are very wordy and
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+ have only two benefits over public domain: legally-mandated
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+ attribution and liability-control. I do not believe these
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+ are worth the excessive verbosity and user-unfriendliness
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+ these licenses induce, especially in the single-file
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+ case where those licenses tend to be at the top of
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+ the file, the first thing you see.
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+
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+ To the specific points, I have had no trouble receiving
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+ attribution for my libraries; liability in the face of
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+ no explicit disclaimer of liability is an open question,
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+ but one I have a lot of difficulty imagining there being
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+ any actual doubt about in court. Sometimes I explicitly
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+ note in my libraries that I make no guarantees about them
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+ being fit for purpose, but it's pretty absurd to do this;
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+ as a whole, it comes across as "here is a library to decode
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+ vorbis audio files, but it may not actually work and if
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+ you have problems it's not my fault, but also please
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+ report bugs so I can fix them"--so dumb!
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