How is it worse/different from closed source?

Post #277,841 by drewk 3/9/07 12:22:08 PM Reply	How is it worse/different from closed source? The problem managers have is that they cannot know what parts of their code base comes from open source projects. If you write closed source software, are the developers any less likely to include source from somewhere else? Is there any difference except for the fact that when you distribute your own source it's easier to get caught? A code snippet reused from a newsgroup posting could actually have come from a copyrighted open source project. Or it could have come from a copyrighted closed source product that the developer worked on. And its use could legally require the company to open source its entire product. Only if you want to keep distributing it without re-writing it. If a developer adds OSS code to your product and you're caught distributing it under an incompatible license, that doesn't retroactively apply a new license to your code. (Is that the terms of the GPL, or just how it's typically approached? I can't recall.) If the company is an ISV, it might even be faced with being required to offer its product at no cost. All the GPL says about cost is that 1) you're explicitly allowed to charge for your product, and 2) you have to offer the source to anyone who gets the binary for no more than the cost of providing the media. Yes, that person could then distribute your product at no cost, but you can't be required to. For example, the Apache license might be acceptable to many sites, whereas the viral provisions of the GPL (General Public License) might lead some companies to preclude its use. And this is different from closed source licenses how? If you don't like the terms, don't use the code. Nothing new about that. Why is it "viral" when the GPL specifies the terms under which you can redistribute code, when closed source components in your product can prevent it being redistributed at all? === Kip Hawley is still an idiot. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #277,850 by crazy 3/9/07 1:39:56 PM Reply	Because people are far less likely to see closed source. Which in turn leads them to thinking long and hard about the usage of it. Eons ago, if I wanted to see the code that produced an internal file for an application so I could write my own interface to it, I needed to call the vendor. The vendor would FedEx me some very serious looking legal documents about usage restrictions. I would pass them on to the legal department of the company I worked for. The lawyer would quiz me, make sure I REALLY needed to see it, and would make sure I understood the legal problems that would ensue if I did anything that would allow the vendor's source code to be passed on to anyone else. I would think for a bit, and agree I really did need to see it, then the lawyer would sign it, my boss would sign it, and I would sign it. Everyone kept copies. We would then FedEx the doc back to the vendor, and wait. And wait. And wait. The disks would show up, I would copy them to my system, and my boss would remind me to be careful. I would review the code, pull the file structure out of it, write a bit of code that used the structure, test it, and then destroy my copy of the vendor's code. I would then notify my boss and the lawyer. The lawyer would send a nice little letter to the company stating that the code had been destroyed. The whole process would take months, multiple people were involved, and an internal enforcement procedure (me getting my ass canned) would be triggered if there was a hint of that code passing from me to anyone else.
Post #277,905 by ubernostrum 3/9/07 11:48:00 PM Reply	Really? Seems to me that the majority of employed programmers in the world right now are working on closed-source products, so it's at least as likely that they've seen closed-source code as open-source code. --\r\nYou cooin' with my bird?
Post #277,908 by crazy 3/10/07 12:11:49 AM Reply	Purposeful denseness Or are you just playing? Working on closed source with the authority to modify and release to production is a bit different from this discussion.

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