[Embedlets-dev] Re: [Mgmt] License?

[Ted K. <tk...@ya...>]

Andrzej,

> But before I can really make any progress, we need to decide 
> what kind of license we want to release this stuff under:
> 
> Apache? 
> GPL?
> LGPL?
> Some other?

Sourceforge requires that a new project select (at least tentatively) an open
source license as part of the registration process.

http://opensource.org/licenses/


I spent a number of hours studying these licenses and the one I liked the most
was the Apache license:

http://www.opensource.org/licenses/apachepl.php


However, since only Apache projects can use this license I then looked for the
license that was as close to it as possible and the one I selected was the BSD
license:

http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php


We are not locked into the BSD license, though,  and we can change it at any
time.  I figured that we would get around to addressing this issue eventually.



>It would also be nice to become an "official" Apache project 
>some time down the road....lots of benefits to going that 
>route, and if we use the Apache license terms in the beginning 
>this would be easier.
[...]
>One issue is how to attribute the copyright since we don't 
>have a legal entity like the Apache Foundation or embedlets.org 
>that can legally own the copyright.

After Nicola had posted some links to information on the Apache Incubator site
I spent some time studying the rest of the Incubator materials along with the
Apache foundation's overall philosophies and goals.

Now that you have mentioned the possibility of the Embedlets project putting
together a proposal to become part of the Apache foundation I have started to
think about this.

The Apache foundation appears to be primarily focused on server side open
source software development.  However, if the prediction of billions of
embedded systems being attached to the internet in the near future comes true
(which seems likely) then enterprise systems are going to have a need for
technologies that allow them to monitor, control and manage these devices.

Embedlets, and especially the Outpost reference implementation, are being
specifically designed to provide this type of technology.   When viewed from
this perspective it appears that the Embedlets/Outpost project has the
potential of bringing capabilities to the Apache Foundation that it does not
currently have and that would be very complementary to their existing project
base.

As for the benefits of what Apache would provide for the Embedlets/Outpost
project, more direct access to cutting edge back end developers,  increased
visibility and the support of a best-practice open source community are just a
few of these.

The more I think about this idea the more I like it.  A main question I have,
though, is if Apache would be interested in bringing an embedded systems
oriented project into their community?


Ted


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