1. BCS OSSG Open Source Licence Proposal - 24th July 2007
Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG)
British Computer Society (BCS)
Mark Elkins MSc MBCS

2. Some Reasons For (1)
Ability to have one licence with optional components on a similar model to the creative commons licences– e.g. opt in or out of the copyleft provisions.
The creative commons model - good modular design of components around a core architecture giving strength and adaptability.

3. Some Reasons For (2)
Clarify if a licence is a contract or a bare licence.
Clarify as to whether subclassing or linking triggers the copyleft provisions.
Copyleft is not business friendly for developing applications - which is a very large share of the business software market.
Would reflect/support British characteristics.

4. If an independent unbiased commentary on the
Some Reasons For (3)
If an independent unbiased commentary on the
existing licences identified a clear gap for a licence that met the needs of certain stakeholders, then there might be arguments that OSSG could help develop it.
European Union Public Licence (EUPL) created as a single licence to meet the local legal public sector needs in Europe ( but which is compatible with the GPL).

5. Some Reasons Against (1)
Licence proliferation – Vanity, confusion, legal problems, factions, dilute free software, potential and unnecessary interoperability problems, etc.
Might not get Open Source Initiative (OSI) approval.
More palatable to set up a framework for licences, rather than yet another licence. This could include a common agreed core and limited variations to suit different specific needs.

6. Some Reasons Against (2)
In a world where most free software is under one of four licenses, what possible concerns could this license cover that are not already covered by GPL, LGPL, BSD and MIT licenses (plus the option to dual licence)?
Many open source developers are extremely wary of such specialised licenses and will often generally reject any project that doesn't use one of the well known and well understood licenses like GPL, BSD, MPL, LGPL, etc.

7. Some Reasons Against (3)
More licences just means more money goes into legal fees and less into software development.
More of a demand for a good, unbiased commentary on the attributes of the different licences and how they trade off the interests of the different stakeholders.
It would be better to have a BCS recommended open source license rather than one of their own?

8. Some Reasons Against (4)
Danger of alienating others in the Open Source and Free software communities
The Free Software Definition
The Open Source Definition

9. Mark Elkins MSc MBCS mark_elkins@bcs.org
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Malcolm, Andrew, Paul, Graham, Matt, Ed, Michael, Graham, and Glyn.
Mark Elkins MSc MBCS