[OSM-legal-talk] License Cut-over and critical mass

Frederik Ramm frederik at remote.org
Fri Jul 16 11:39:54 BST 2010


John,

John Smith wrote:
> You are correct, it's obvious that there is some people unhappy with
> the status quo.

I wouldn't exactly say I am unhappy with the status quo. It's like 
living in a house where experts say it is going to fall apart any minute 
- you might like to be able to retain the status quo but it's not on the 
menu. The status quo is volatile, and is soon going to be a status quo 
ante - one way or another.

>> It's got nothing to do with Google and it's not helpful to drag them
>> into the discussion.
> 
> It could have been any community that offers map editing similar to
> OSM, Google just happens to be the most obvious alternative.

Google is not an obvious alternative. The only respect in which they are 
remotely similar to OSM is technology; they don't have the same kind of 
community and they don't produce the kind of output that OSM 
contributors want.

Personally I don't see any alternative to OSM that comes close, even 
remotely.

Bye
Frederik




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