Talk:Problems with free software and open source models

I still cannot see a problem in this. If the backend stuff is GPL and the frontend (Delievery Engine) is under Consumerium Software License then there are theoretically no problems of skewed software. And besides keeping the majority of stuff forkable makes it more easy to manage operations without fierce flame wars. Juxo 00:57, 15 Dec 2003 (EET)

Well this page is about general problems of these licenses for any project in a healthy signal infrastructure. Maybe it should be more of a pros and cons thing - a problem with a CSL that is not say a Green Software License that many groups use, is that it will not be as easy to integrate with those other parts. So there's at least an argument for seeking Consortium license wherever we can, if only to work closely with essential projects that for whatever reason aren't using the GFDL or free software models.

Avoiding flame wars by enabling bad copy problem is a poor tradeoff. I tend to agree that if the delivery engine is under a Consumerium Software License that the Consumerium Governance Organization controls, then the most obvious worst cases go away, and many threats seem more manageable even if free software problems infest the rest. Problems are:

1. that license doesn't exist yet, and many people will argue "it isn't needed, just GPL everything" which is an ideological position that doesn't come from any analysis, just from a vague belief that "free is good, open is good" etc. So we need this page just to convince people we have a problem that the CSL would solve.

2. just because we think it's good enough, doesn't mean it is. Keeping our analysis transparent to let anyone see it and add to it, like this page and worst cases especially, makes it harder for us to be totally blind-sided

3. a lot of jerks just "fork for the sake of forking", leaving 3000 versions of Linux that the end user can't tell from each other.