[TOS] Why do you care about TOS?

Karlie Robinson karlie_robinson at webpath.net
Wed Apr 14 15:18:35 UTC 2010


On 04/14/2010 03:44 AM, Mel Chua wrote:
> Why are*you*  here?
>    
It's hard to say I'm present at all when I spend so much time lurking, 
but I truly believe that if FOSS development techniques aren't part of a 
CS degree program, the graduates have already missed the boat.

As most go through their classes they're drilled on the evils of 
plagiarism and reminded how to keep their employers secrets.

That's fine for many situations, but as a business person and small 
business advocate, I can't advise any business to hire someone who isn't 
well rounded.

You can't avoid FOSS code unless you start from scratch (Certain 
exceptions apply).  The problem is it's not a cost effective way to pump 
out a "Smart" anything working from scratch.  So if you're incorporating 
FOSS code into your product and the knowledge base doesn't exist inside 
a company there's no way to mitigate liability.  (BTW, those last 5 
words are how you give Lawyers and Accountants the heebie jeebies.)

For instance the Best Buy Lawsuit that was filed late last year [1].

It's obvious no one in the organizations understood the basics of the 
GPL, one of the cornerstones of FOSS.  In this case, compliance by 
providing source code would have been as simple as printing a URL on the 
receipt directing end users to information and links to download the 
code.  (or a sticker on the box, etc)  Now they're up to their eyeballs 
in Attorney fees and it will be worse when they loose.

When you're a small business, things like this put you out of business.

~Karlie

[1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10415270-92.html

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