[OSM-talk] Why PD is not better for business

[paul youlten]

Where does this  "Business Bad:OSM good"  binary come from? (I suspect
the Germans ;-))

I don't understand how a business using OSM data for free and without
"thinking of the children"  (AKA "giving back to the community") is
bad for the project - every time we get "ripped off" we get a bigger
audience, the more people that use the data the more more influential
the map becomes and hence the greater the fun in contributing to it in
the first place.

It was meant to be "fun" - wasn't it?

PY

On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 12:52 AM, Anthony <osm at inbox.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 2:51 PM, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>>
>> If Steve were to say "let's go PD", everone would howl: "You're only doing
>> this so that CloudMade can rip us off!"
>>
>> If Steve says "let's go ODbL", he is accused of only doing this because it
>> keeps CloudMade in business by making things more difficult for Google.
>>
>> If Steve were to say "license change? are you stupid? let's remain where
>> we are!" then people will say that he isn't interested in putting OSM on a
>> safe legal footing because CloudMade has arranged themselves with the
>> imperfect situation and he'd rather sacrifice the project's data than change
>> a system that works for CloudMade.
>>
>> So, whichever way he does it it's wrong, isn't it?
>
> Not at all.  I assume whatever way he's doing things is in the best interest
> of CloudMade, but I never said there was anything wrong with that.  I think
> it would be ridiculous to expect Steve to actively work against his own
> business interests.  The very most I would expect from him is to recuse
> himself from any official board vote.  What he says on the mailing lists is
> completely up to him.
>
>> Having said that, the ability to create non-free rendered maps is
>> certainly something that will appeal to some businesses.
>
> Have you read the ridiculous terms of the CloudMade terms of service
> recently?  I'd quote them to you, but after reading through them yesterday
> I've put the site on my block list.
>
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