A think tank's view of free software [LWN.net]

A think tank's view of free software

Posted May 10, 2007 12:04 UTC (Thu) by Dom2 (guest, #458)
Parent article: A think tank's view of free software

Clearly, we would be better off with the simplicity, compatibility, and fairness found in proprietary software licenses.

You jest, yet this could be considered to be the case. Proprietary licences all boil down to You are screwed -- we own you. You don't have to think about them any further than that. Open source licences on the other hand, do require at least a passing familiarity in order to evaluate.

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Complexity of proprietary licenses

Posted May 10, 2007 18:09 UTC (Thu) by dark (subscriber, #8483) [Link]

That may be how it works for the individual home user, who depends mainly on keeping a low profile to avoid license entanglements. In a large company, however, considerable effort is spent just on making sure that all the licenses are being followed. I don't know if this has ever been quantified in one of those TCO studies.