FSFE's Freedom Task Force to make licensing easier
ciaran
|
Wednesday 15 November 2006
|
FSFE's Freedom Task Force
was announced on Monday ...an announcement slightly overshadowed
by SUN promising to GPL Java. What is FTF?
Shane
Coughlan - our main FTF guy - will publish more information on
this in the next few days, but there is an explanation here:
The idea is that the freedom of our developers, distributors, and
users is protected by our licences. In our perfect world, we
wouldn't need licences, but we do. So that programmers can focus on
programming, we're going to try to make licensing as simple as
possible by publishing educational info and by building a team of
experts that can do this work.
How does this relate
to gpl-violations.org?
FSFE's FTF will work with Harald Welte, and will try to reduce his
licensing workload so that he can do more coding. We'll be in close
contact though - there are not many in the World with his knowledge
and experience on GPL compliance.
How does this relate to FSF's GPL compliance Lab?
(who recently
updated their webpage) The two are similar in that FSFE's FTF
will become another shoulder for the burden of bringing people into
compliance with the GPL. To the extent that they will differ in
method, FSFE's FTF will probably focus more on the education side of
GPL compliance, such as gathering best practices and publishing
guides. Another difference is that we won't only be working on GNU
licences, we'll also help free software projects that use other
licences.
That's the plan, and the direction FTF is starting in. Where it
goes could depend on what needs arise and what people ask for help
with. Shane's contact details are
on the webpage.
This document is in public domain
