diff --git a/docs/why_public_domain.md b/docs/why_public_domain.md index 141e4b6..5b6df6f 100644 --- a/docs/why_public_domain.md +++ b/docs/why_public_domain.md @@ -3,47 +3,47 @@ in the public domain: 1. Public domain vs. viral licenses -Why is this library public domain? -Because more people will use it. Because it's not viral, people are -not obligated to give back, so you could argue that it hurts the -development of it, and then because it doesn't develop as well it's -not as good, and then because it's not as good, in the long run -maybe fewer people will use it. I have total respect for that -opinion, but I just don't believe it myself for most software. + Why is this library public domain? + Because more people will use it. Because it's not viral, people are + not obligated to give back, so you could argue that it hurts the + development of it, and then because it doesn't develop as well it's + not as good, and then because it's not as good, in the long run + maybe fewer people will use it. I have total respect for that + opinion, but I just don't believe it myself for most software. 2. Public domain vs. attribution-required licenses -The primary difference between public domain and, say, a Creative Commons -commercial / non-share-alike / attribution license is solely the -requirement for attribution. (Similarly the BSD license and such.) -While I would *appreciate* acknowledgement and attribution, I believe -that it is foolish to place a legal encumberment (i.e. a license) on -the software *solely* to get attribution. + The primary difference between public domain and, say, a Creative Commons + commercial / non-share-alike / attribution license is solely the + requirement for attribution. (Similarly the BSD license and such.) + While I would *appreciate* acknowledgement and attribution, I believe + that it is foolish to place a legal encumberment (i.e. a license) on + the software *solely* to get attribution. -In other words, I'm arguing that PD is superior to the BSD license and -the Creative Commons 'Attribution' license. If the license offers -anything besides attribution -- as does, e.g., CC NonCommercial-ShareAlike, -or the GPL -- that's a separate discussion. + In other words, I'm arguing that PD is superior to the BSD license and + the Creative Commons 'Attribution' license. If the license offers + anything besides attribution -- as does, e.g., CC NonCommercial-ShareAlike, + or the GPL -- that's a separate discussion. 3. Other aspects of BSD-style licenses besides attribution -Permissive licenses like zlib and BSD license are perfectly reasonable -in their requirements, but they are very wordy and -have only two benefits over public domain: legally-mandated -attribution and liability-control. I do not believe these -are worth the excessive verbosity and user-unfriendliness -these licenses induce, especially in the single-file -case where those licenses tend to be at the top of -the file, the first thing you see. + Permissive licenses like zlib and BSD license are perfectly reasonable + in their requirements, but they are very wordy and + have only two benefits over public domain: legally-mandated + attribution and liability-control. I do not believe these + are worth the excessive verbosity and user-unfriendliness + these licenses induce, especially in the single-file + case where those licenses tend to be at the top of + the file, the first thing you see. -To the specific points, I have had no trouble receiving -attribution for my libraries; liability in the face of -no explicit disclaimer of liability is an open question, -but one I have a lot of difficulty imagining there being -any actual doubt about in court. Sometimes I explicitly -note in my libraries that I make no guarantees about them -being fit for purpose, but it's pretty absurd to do this; -as a whole, it comes across as "here is a library to decode -vorbis audio files, but it may not actually work and if -you have problems it's not my fault, but also please -report bugs so I can fix them". \ No newline at end of file + To the specific points, I have had no trouble receiving + attribution for my libraries; liability in the face of + no explicit disclaimer of liability is an open question, + but one I have a lot of difficulty imagining there being + any actual doubt about in court. Sometimes I explicitly + note in my libraries that I make no guarantees about them + being fit for purpose, but it's pretty absurd to do this; + as a whole, it comes across as "here is a library to decode + vorbis audio files, but it may not actually work and if + you have problems it's not my fault, but also please + report bugs so I can fix them"--so dumb!