Comments on: on trusting open source companies

By: AC/OS: Just what is open source

AC/OS: Just what is open source — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:24:45 +0000

[...] stop me from helping Fedora. (Note that this implies a very high standard for governance; see my rants about not trusting ‘open source’ companies.)If one must assess companies as a whole, two suggestions (both of which are standards and not clear [...]

By: Luis Villa’s Blog » SFLC note on MS patent pledge- revocable?!?

Luis Villa’s Blog » SFLC note on MS patent pledge- revocable?!? — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:42:33 +0000

[...] As I’ve said before (and hope to get to in yet more detail this weekend) you can only depend on a company as far as you can throw their contract with you. You cannot rely on them otherwise. If this pledge is revocable (and I have only Brad’s word for that right now), you can’t depend on it, period. [...]

By: Luis Villa’s Blog » IBM patents

Luis Villa’s Blog » IBM patents — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 02:48:48 +0000

[...] Some time ago I talked about trusting open source companies, with the bottom line being ‘trust them as far as their licenses and their profit motives let you, and not a bit further.’ IBM has generally been very good about supporting open source, and as steven says, they’ve been very up front about their motivations- they are doing it because they want to make money, and they think open source and open standards help them make money. [...]

By: Luis Villa’s Blog » What the kernel guys are and aren’t (and really should be) saying about GPL v3

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:36:24 +0000

[...] So, yeah. That’s really what it took them five pages to say. I think, put that way, they’ve got a fairly sound argument- clearly lots of people would want to use a GPL 2.1 that had the same focus as GPL v2, but with more refined legal safeguards. I personally would prefer a GPL v3, that prevents people from using my code to create devices whose primary purpose is to deliver DRMd content, and which protects me from the patent portfolios of companies which I may like but can’t trust. But clearly that is a difference of opinion that merely having an open comment period is not going to paper over. [...]

By: Luis Villa’s Blog » Miscymiscmisc.

Luis Villa’s Blog » Miscymiscmisc. — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:35:44 +0000

[...] Jono: totally agreed that Ubuntu’s process is generally quite transparent and an example for others. That said, the profit- what you note as ‘cheap labo[u]r’- is and must be important. Corporations get involved and stay involved because of profit. Corporations that are making money off free software are predictable and reliable (just like corporations that are locked down by licenses); corporations that are doing free software out of the goodness of their heart are not necessarily either predictable nor reliable. [...]

By: Luis Villa’s Blog » the excellent licensing wisdom of rlove

Luis Villa’s Blog » the excellent licensing wisdom of rlove — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 16:01:03 +0000

[...] <rlove> luis: I don’t think J5 got your blog post. <luis> I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I’m at work <luis> only the one sentence that came through wordpress moderation <luis> certainly my point was not an ‘us v. them’ dichotomy <rlove> exactly, your point was more on the power of the license <luis> right <rlove> nothing about who was good or who was bad <rlove> but that that was all made moot by the license <luis> right <luis> maybe I should s/company/aggregations of people/ in the post ;) <luis> or s/company/copyright holder/ <rlove> yes, the latter <luis> maybe s/company/joint copyright holder/ ? <rlove> or do what I do and punch people in the face with your thesis: “The license is the great equalizer” <rlove> or some snappy conclusion <luis> I’m not *quite* so cynical as to not trust you, for example, if you decided to implement lovix tomorrow, I would probably use it whatever the license <rlove> and I appreciate that <rlove> and I’d probably add features, just for you <rlove> little luis-inspired easter eggs <rlove> even with lovix, though, you have no chips without the right license <luis> what about your undying love for me? <rlove> what if I died and my estate was run by crooks? <rlove> or I declared Chapter 11? <rlove> or — god forbid — Chapter 7? <rlove> I am just saying. You want some chips. <luis> let us just post this conversation to our blogs and smite our doubters with it. [...]

By: J5’s Blog » On Companies, Communities and Good Citizenship

J5’s Blog » On Companies, Communities and Good Citizenship — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 15:11:39 +0000

[...] Luis, I have one point of contention to bring up about your concerns. We must remember what I think many forget. Companies, governments, organizations and individuals all make up the community. It is not the community vs. companies. What we see is that in any community (not just ours) there are good citizens and bad citizens and everything inbetween. Any entity in the community has equal potential to be pulled to either end of the spectrum. [...]