Re: proposed improvements to PostgreSQL license

At 10:19 6/07/00 -0400, Ron Peterson wrote:
>
>This has happened in PostgreSQL's own history. How long did it take for
>the project to get picked up again? How long did it take for the people
>who picked it up to familiarize themselves with the code? How long did
>it take before the community at large developed any confidence in the
>project's viability? How much talent was lost? How many ideas were
>lost?
>
>I believe developers assurances about their desire to maintain
>PostgreSQL as an open source project are sincere. But I am not going to
>continue investing my time in PostgreSQL unless those assurances are
>backed by contractually binding verbage.

Short of employing the core developers directly, and giving them good
enough conditions to ensure that they stay with you, I don't think you can
acheieve your ends. No license change will help. All a licence does is
tells you what *you* can do with the software.

GPL or BSD, if someone buys up the core developers, their replacements will
have a steep learning curve. Your only choice here is to invest local
talent from your company in the development project so that if the core
developers do leave, then there is a higher chance of a quick uptake.

Or have I missed something? Did you have some kind of "contractually
binding verbage" in mind?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Philip Warner | __---_____
Albatross Consulting Pty. Ltd. |----/ - \
(A.C.N. 008 659 498) | /(@) ______---_
Tel: (+61) 0500 83 82 81 | _________ \
Fax: (+61) 0500 83 82 82 | ___________ |
Http://www.rhyme.com.au | / \|
| --________--
PGP key available upon request, | /
and from pgp5.ai.mit.edu:11371 |/