[Developers] Acre hosted app licensing - BSD only?

[Stefano Mazzocchi]

Tom Morris wrote:
> 2009/7/2 Stefano Mazzocchi <stefano at metaweb.com>:
> 
>> We are working on updating the terms of service right as we speak.
> 
> OK, got it.  I'm a little surprised that your lawyers think they can
> enforce things retroactively, but fortunately I'm not in a position
> where I have any code that I care about there.

The 'create new app' dialog has had the BSD sticker logo on it for 
months that says:

   All Acre apps are published on Freebase under the
   <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BSD/">BSD license</a>
   so everyone can "view source", clone code, and learn from each other.

It is true that that indication might be considered legally dubious when 
not coupled with carefully worded Terms of Service, but considering that 
Acre has never been officially released as a final and supported Metaweb 
product and that that sticker was displayed prominently when creating 
new apps, the claim that what we're doing now is retroactively change 
licenses on other people's code doesn't seem fair.

>> We've picked BSD for no other reason that we feel it strikes a balance
>> between protection, simplicity and compatibility with the javascript
>> library ecosystem that exists right now on the web and also didn't want
>> a license that prevented people from taking code from Acre and use it in
>> their own apps outside (this turns out to be especially useful would we
>> decide to open source Acre or parts of it to allow others to run apps
>> with their own resources instead of Metaweb's)
> 
> In my world view, BSD isn't a balanced/middle-of-the-road license, but
> rather a very permissive license with AGPLv3 at the other end of the
> spectrum and things like EPL and LGPL in the middle.  It's great for
> commercial companies who are promoting something or things with a
> strong established ecosystem of commercial contributors like Apache,
> but in other circumstances it's an invitation for commercial ventures
> to take without giving back.

You would have liked a reciprocal license better?

And in what way you think commercial ventures would be able to 'take 
away' your Acre code without giving back? Are you thinking of Metaweb or 
in general?

(not criticizing, just honestly curious)

>> I hope this clarifies things, but if not, I'll be happy to answer any
>> other question you have on this (as it also helps me write the FAQ
>> answer later ;-)
> 
> One of the things that I'd like to see is a compare and contrast /
> advantages and disadvantages for all the different libraries, tools,
> hosting environments, etc that are offered for Freebase.  Should I use
> Acre or MJT or freebase-python or metaweb-py or load up the quad dumps
> in a SQL database and use SQL or parse the WEX or ...?  What are the
> business and technological implications of each?  I'm probably going
> to write up my own opinions on this in a blog post for those
> contemplating developing apps which touch Freebase in some way, but it
> would be interesting to hear the official Metaweb party line as well.

I don't think you'll find one. Our job as platform enablers is to offer 
a service that helps you and helps us. Which one of the offerings helps 
you best (if at all!) is an analysis only you can make.

We think we are providing a wide spectrum of possibilities that maximize 
the opportunity for users to benefit and profit from Freebase as a 
platform without damaging the ability for Metaweb to profit from it as 
well, but as you well imagine, walking that fine line is hard and a 
constant struggle, although one that we are happy to have to deal with 
because it keeps us all honest.

But I know we'll never be always finished or always free of things to 
improve on that regard, so I am very much interested in hearing/reading 
your thoughts about it.

So please share them with me once you write them.

-- 
Stefano Mazzocchi                              Application Catalyst
Metaweb Technologies, Inc.                      stefano at metaweb.com
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