[OSM-talk] Why the BSD vs GPL debate is irrelevant to OSM

[Shalabh]

On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 11:18 PM, andrzej zaborowski <balrogg at gmail.com>wrote:

> 2009/12/11 Shalabh <shalabh.w at gmail.com>:
> > Ok, heres a question I have been meaning to ask for long. What is the big
> > deal if the big, bad G takes a chunk of data from OSM and uses it? Do I
> > care? No. If anything, I would be happy that we created something worthy
> to
> > be used by a corporation. As long as they dont restrict me from using
> data
> > on OSM, which they in no way cant, I dont have a problem. If they dont
> 'give
> > back' to the community, big deal!!
>
> It is a big deal to me, it's some kind of dream of a better world
> where practically all geospatial data (also software if you're a FOSS
> programmer) has to be free if you want to tap into the huge knowledge
> base all humanity has built till now.  You can already see big closed
> software companies stay behind because they can't use my favourite
> GPL-licensed library, they have to reimplement everything from scratch
> while everyone else uses the free version and adds their own creations
> to this ever-growing base.  It's a virus.
>
> Google has a lot of data and are good at getting more, be it official
> or crowdsourced.  It would be a huge loss for the collective knowledge
> of everyone if this data escapes the virus.  I can't afford that loss,
> maybe you can.
>
> Cheers
>

Point taken but is not leaving our data open for everyone's use the answer?
So we are saying

'We are an open project only for those who agree to all OUR terms and
conditions, which includes necessarily sharing what they have.'

And I (only speaking for myself) see that as another way of restricting
someone's freedom.

Regards,
Shalabh
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