[Osmf-talk] Share Alike images

[Matt Amos]

Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> No, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. In the space of a 
> couple of hours, this thread has seen the proposed relicensing 
> criticised for both being "protectionist" and, conversely, causing "poor 
> suckers [to] get nothing back". Minimum protection vs maximum 
> protection. How on earth can you reconcile that?

"I don't understand the concept of two sides and I think that probably 
there's good on both sides, bad on both sides, and there's a middle 
ground, but it never seems to come to the middle ground and it's very 
frustrating watching it and seemingly we're not moving forward." -- 
David Lynch

or

"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked 
down by the traffic from both sides." -- Margaret Thatcher (i never 
thought i'd be quoting her...)

> So even though I've long believed the majority would be happy with PD, I 
> understand absolutely why OSMF has only considered a share-alike 
> license. A proposed move to PD would make the last few days seem like a 
> storm in a teacup. No-one would want to put themselves through that.

i always looked at ODbL as a "fixed" version of CC BY-SA with the 
assumption that, since everyone signed up to CC BY-SA, most people would 
be happy moving to a license with similar intent. clearly i was mistaken.

the doodle.com poll, currently with 256 respondents (an auspicious 
number for any programmer!), has 60% of yes respondents preferring PD 
and 53% of overall respondents. its a majority, but a slim one.

in a few weeks we'll have the results of the OSMF poll, and more real 
information can only help.

cheers,

matt