Re: Open Source related questions ...Re: ssh file copying client needed

On 2/10/07, Conrad D'Cruz <conrad.dcruz-QgKjmwvqNIVWk0Htik3J/[email protected]> wrote:
> About the SSH being open source -- BSD license ... that would make the
> software free for an end user!
>
> Which brings up a very interesting question that has been banging around
> inside my head for a while.
>
> If Don Rosenberg is still on this list maybe he or one of the resident
> experts on opensource may be able shed some light.
>
> Lets say a project was open source with many people contributing to it
> (on their time) over time.  This would be essentially different from
> a company providing the resources to maintain the code base.
>
> How can the public project be sold to a company by one or few individuals?
>
> Professional Open Source usually covers support services around a public
> code base.  Usually companies that are doing the buying
> are not buying the support services but the product/codebase itself.  So
> is there a designated owner of an open source project?
>
> I know many years ago when we ran the JUG we had a discussion on what it
> takes to label a project or codebase as open source and there were
> specific guidelines which were covered in one of our forums.  So a
> company couldn't call label a project open source to get people to work
> on it for free.
>
> Everything made sense at that time.
>
> So in the light of several projects being sold for profit new questions
> have arisen.
>
> I guess I don't understand the model after all.  So any insights and
> thoughts will help ... just the abridged version of the explanation
> would suffice since I don't have the time to
> read a book or do a dissertation on the topic.

The short version is that the person or group is selling their
copyrights and trademarks.  As the copyright holder you have the power
to choose the license, name, logo, etc.  For most smaller projects
it's understood that any code contributions you make, you give up your
copyright.  For larger projects, they will require you to actually
sign over your copyrights to your code.

-- 
Robert Dale