[freeroleplay] Re: [Fwd: Free-Content Licensing of FUDGE]
- From: Samuel Penn <sam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: freeroleplay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 13:44:30 +0000
On Wednesday 08 December 2004 12:37, Ricardo Gladwell wrote:
> Here is an interesting posting on the OGF-L list:
>
> http://www.mail-archive.com/ogf-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/msg09444.html
>
> Also interesting because it seems to link to the archives for the OGL
> mailing lists. I had long considered these to be dead.
One interesting point that is raised is that most people don't want
to care about licenses, especially if they're amateur publishers
just sticking stuff up on their website.
One thing I don't like about many of the licenses is that they're
too darn complicated. One thing that put me off using the OGL
initially for Yags wasn't the terms of the license, but the fact
that I couldn't be bothered to read through it all to try and figure
out what the terms were. One thing I have seen bought up before that
even a lot of professional publishers have got the OGL wrong, and
published stuff they shouldn't have. WotC have been gentle, so far.
The thing which attracts me to the CC licenses is their very simple
summeries for mortals, with a link to the legalese. I know they
don't enforce transparency, but the FDL is the only license which
does, and they do at least enforce no-DRM.
Though it would be a PITA if someone stuck Yags into MS Word and
did lots of cool additions to it, would I be better off with an
MS Word version of cool additions, or no cool additions? At least
with MS Word, it's possible to export as plain text. And MS Word
isn't actually that much harder for me to transform into Yagsbook
XML than HTML is, and yet a badly designed website with lots of
Javascript and malformed only-works-on-ie HTML is allowed by the
FDL whilst MS Word isn't.
Do I gain anything with a transparency clause which I wouldn't
with a no-DRM clause? Do I really want to have to tell someone to
stop using Yags just because their favourite editor is MS Word?
Hmm, there seems to have been subject drift there :-) Anyway, is
the GPL/FDL simpler than the OGL? It appears so to me, but then
I've been using the former in software for years, so that helps
my understanding. Complexity and mis-understanding may be one
argument against the OGL.
And yes, you can add my 'signature' to the email.
--
Be seeing you, http://www.glendale.org.uk/
Sam. jabber: samuel.penn@xxxxxxxxxx
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