From: "John Lam (CLR)" <jflam@...>
Date: 2007-08-04T03:47:17+09:00
Subject: Re: Groklaw says "Watch out, Ruby!"

> Actually, there are many differences between the MS-PL
> and the *real* open source licenses approved by OSI,
> as pj@groklaw has pointed out in further detail
>
> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070730120109643
>
> Would you want to ellaborate more on this ?

OSI approves more than just GPL. Unfortunately groklaw believes that open source == GPL which is clearly not the case.

As a more concrete example, the Ms-PL allows Novell to redistribute the DLR however they wish, which is something that Miguel has already publicly suggested that they will do.

It also allows any of you to redistribute DLR or IronRuby or IronPython however you wish. You could do so freely, you could charge for the distribution etc. You just have to abide by the conditions imposed by the license.

As for *interpreting* those conditions, please make sure that you consult with your friendly neighborhood attorney before making any business decisions around this. Unfortunately, email threads on RubyTalk and blog posts / comments on the internet don't count as legal advice :)

Thanks,
-John