Re: licensing

I am sorry to step into and not having had the time to read the whole thread
so far.

As usual, I see a very lively discussion comparing BSD and coplyleft style
licence.

It's, for me a matter of circomstance, objectives and sometimes personnal
choice. I choose GPL because I want that the other share alike (to use the
wording of the creative commons)

I wanted to make sure that the list knew the existence of a report that has
been published last year by the French ADAE (French for Agency for the
développement of the electronic administration)

It's title is precisely :

Guide de choix et d'usage des licences de logiciels libres pour les
administrations

or 

GUIDE TO CHOOSING AND USING FREE SOFTWARE LICENCES FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC
SECTOR ENTITIES 

We (the Free Software community) have insisted that the document be also
published in English, and it was. You can find it at 

http://www.adae.pm.gouv.fr/spip/article.php3?id_article=172

and specifically the report (both parts) at
http://www.adae.pm.gouv.fr/upload/documents/Atica_free_software_guide.sxw
http://www.adae.pm.gouv.fr/upload/documents/free_software_guide_detailed_analysis.pdf

Part of the justification comes from the article from Philippe Aigrain who
arguments in that direction 

http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/aigrain2.pdf 

The executive summary of the report is simple: the Adae recommends to use the
GPL, but leave the final choice to the deparment of the administration. 

This has been appreciated by the Free Software community in France.

Best regards,

Nicolas Pettiaux

--
Nicolas Pettiaux
Vice-president
AFUL http://www.aful.org/