Sun Leaves License Behind (Linux Journal) [LWN.net]

Linux Journal reports that Sun will remove one license from its X.org contributions. "One project with a proliferation of licenses though thankfully compatible is X.org. We count some seventy-six separate licenses in the xorg/xserver's COPYING file, most of which are derivatives of the "standard" license, itself an MIT license. Most derivatives bear roughly the same language along with a single distinguishing feature: '...and that the name of [the copyright holder] not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.' That file will soon have one less license, however, as Sun Microsystems' Alan Coopersmith announced yesterday that the company will begin licensing its contributions under the "standard" license, which does not bear the advertising/publicity provision. Further, Sun will re-license all of its prior contributions some twenty-one years of substantial contribution under the "standard" licenses, ridding the code entirely of its derivative license."

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Sun Leaves License Behind (Linux Journal)

Posted Nov 26, 2009 17:45 UTC (Thu) by spot (subscriber, #15640) [Link]

Kudos to Sun for their continued progress in the quest for license simplification. Having worked with Sun for a few years now on various license cleanup issues, they have always been a good partner in ensuring the freedom and flexibility of their code.

I do worry about what will happen in a Sun+Oracle future...

Sun Leaves License Behind (Linux Journal)

Posted Nov 27, 2009 0:56 UTC (Fri) by gravious (guest, #7662) [Link]

Thanks Sun. You've been unbelievably cool over the last few years. Pretty much since freeing Open Office and onwards. Keep up the good work and poison Oracle with your coolness and goodness from within. Heh!

Sun Leaves License Behind (Linux Journal)

Posted Nov 27, 2009 6:53 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

I wish I could believe Sun could do that. But Oracle is older than Sun and
wise in the ways of evil.

Sun Leaves License Behind (Linux Journal)

Posted Dec 3, 2009 20:47 UTC (Thu) by davecb (subscriber, #1574) [Link]

Oracle seems to have treated InnoDB pretty well, investing in performance work on it. This is directly contrary to the speculation that Oracle bought InnoDB to force MySQL to shut down.

--dave (I have my fingers crossed) c-b