cpal

Reddit chooses CPAL for open source license (Verdict: good move)

Reddit launched itself as an open source project today and chose the occasionally controversial CPAL license for the release.

There doesn't appear to be a goal of monetization as much as there is a goal of ubiquity through proliferation. If that were reversed there is no question that the GPL is a better choice.

I happen to think CPAL is exactly the right choice and here's why:

1. It's one of only 3 OSS licenses that take the "network" into account (CPAL, OSL, AGPL) whereby usage can be considered distribution. 2. It doesn't require … Read more

Conde Nast's Reddit goes open-source

Reddit, the social news site that publishing giant Conde Nast acquired in 2006, has made a big announcement: The site's code, as of Wednesday, is open source. It's been released under the Common Public Attribution License (CPAL).

"We'll leave it to the users and see what they come up with," co-founder Steve Huffman told CNET News.com in an interview when asked what the site expected would happen. But more than anything, he's hoping users will tweak some of what they want to see changed and add new features. Social news sites like Reddit … Read more

Facebook adopts the CPAL poison pill

I suppose it was too much to expect Facebook to adopt a permissive open-source license for its application platform. It's too bad, as it had the chance to forestall growth from Ning, Ringside, and other social networking upstarts by making competition impractical.

Instead, by choosing CPAL, Facebook has ensured that it can be open source without anyone actually using its source. Was that the intent?

As OStatic explains, CPAL requires display of an attribution notice on derivative works. This practice, which effectively requires downstream code to carry the original developer(s)' logo, came to be known as "badgeware." It was approved by the OSI but continues to be viewed with suspicion within the open-source community.

I've written before about how most open-source licenses don't apply themselves well to the networked economy. Only the OSL, AGPL, and CPAL contemplate web-based services. It's not surprising that Facebook opted for one of these licenses, but I am surprised it chose the one least likely to lead to developers actually modifying the Facebook platform.

If the point was to protect the Facebook platform from competition (i.e., derivative works), Facebook chose a good license. If it was to encourage development, it chose the wrong license.… Read more

MuleSource goes CPAL, discusses the role of the Open Source Initiative and the relevance of GPLv3

My good friend, Dave Rosenberg (CEO of MuleSource), has finally capitulated to the open-source gods and has licensed MuleSource's software under the nearly the exact same license as before (CPAL instead of MPL+attribution), only this time it's blessed by the Open Source Initiative (OSI).

It's like the hot dogs we buy in the Asay home: Hebrew National. I don't know that they're any different from any other hot dogs, but I like the fact that a rabbi blesses them and guarantees there aren't any non-kosher things in them (like rat hair and excrement).

Anyway, MuleSource ("Our open-source ESB answers to the OSI") is now blessed as open source, and Dave does a fine Q&A with himself to discuss the move, and why MuleSource didn't capitulate to my GPL (GNU General Public License) fetish. In the self-interview, Dave captures a fair amount of the good and bad in open-source business today, and manages to be a lot more interesting than most interviews.… Read more

What does CPAL mean and how did it get approved?

NOTE: I am not speaking for the OSI in this (or any other) blog entry.

I will admit to entering the OSI's deliberations of the recently approved Common Public Attribution License a little late, and leaving early, so I don't have the full context as to how or why it was approved (given the stink around attribution licenses last year). I'm not a big fan of the license (having developed a distaste for this form of license in last year's brouhaha over attribution licenses), but I applaud Ross Mayfield in the way he went about it.

It's interesting that last year's anathema is suddenly mainstream, as Michael Tiemann notes:… Read more