[OSM-legal-talk] [OSM-talk] License to kill

[OJ W]

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 7:34 PM, Russ Nelson <russ at cloudmade.com> wrote:
> On Mar 5, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Frederik Ramm wrote:
>  Also, the cost of staying with buggy old CC-BY-SA for a few months
> longer is rather negligible,
>
> The barn down the road from me was standing on just four 9" beams.  We kept
> saying "Boy, that barn has some structural problems.  It could fall down at
> any time."  It didn't fall, and it didn't fall.  One might be tempted to
> think that one could go into the barn and pull one valuable things of one
> sort or another.  The barn finally fell down this winter.
> If it's a bad idea to use the CC-BY-SA, it's a bad idea to use it for a few
> months longer.

Given that maps need to be regularly updated to stay useful, anyone
relying on a CC-BY-SA loophole will be just as SOL if we change the
license in a year as if we changed it in time for april fools, as
their update stream stops when the license changes.

However, changing to a license before finding out exactly how that
license works is like taking out Russ's barn beams and letting the
structure fall onto untested supports.