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

[Russ Nelson]

On Mar 5, 2009, at 3:34 PM, OJ W wrote:
>
> 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.

that's my argument from community, which I made last january in a  
comment on the OSM blog -- that the license doesn't matter -- and if  
you try to separate yourself from the community, you just cause your  
own shunning -- which is how the Amish feel about it.

> 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.


Several people have made that point, including 80N and SteveC (and  
maybe Andy Allen -- but I'm too lazy to do the research).  We don't  
want to wait too short a time before switching to the new license --  
NOR too long a time.  For better or worse, pro-bono lawyers are like  
open source programmers -- you can't make them work on a schedule.   
They work until they're satisfied with the result.

--
Russ Nelson - http://community.cloudmade.com/blog - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:RussNelson
russ at cloudmade.com - http://openstreetmap.org/user/RussNelson

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