Presentation I gave at OpenWest 2013, uploaded for the benefit of those who attended and wanted to be able to download the slides.

1. Beyond the GPL
Or, “MIT License All The Things”
by Matt Ryan
Tuesday, May 7, 13

2. IANAL
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3. Goals for Open Source licensing
Encourage use and contribution
Discourage abuse and stealing
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5. ©Tuesday, May 7, 13

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8. “To be copyrightable, a derivative work
must be different enough from the
original to be regarded as a ‘new work’
or must contain a substantial amount of
new material.” (emphasis added)
Source: US Copyright Office: Circular 14
Tuesday, May 7, 13

9. Photocopy each page,
bind it in a cover with
two white hands holding
a pomegranate, and call
it “Twilight”
Write a story about
something else besides
mopey teenage girls and
vampires, for heavens
sake
Retell the story in your
own words but change
all the proper nouns
Create a new story
where a girl falls in love
with a zombie, instead of
a vampire
Create a story, about a
non-vampire couple
named Edward and
Bella, which makes many
Twilight references
Create a story using the
same basic plot, but
change almost all other
story elements
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14. Copy all the Linux
sources, post them to
your own github and call
it “Cynux”
Write a completely
original software
application from scratch
Copy all the Linux
sources but rename
functions, files, variables,
etc.
Add several new features
to an existing open
source application
Add a new feature to an
original application by
including open source
components
Add a new feature to an
original application by
executing open source
via the shell
Tuesday, May 7, 13

15. import sqlite
conn = sqlite.connection(‘address.db’)
cursor = conn.cursor()
sql = ‘SELECT * FROM person p, addr a ‘ +
‘WHERE a.id=p.addr_id’
cursor.execute(sql)
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
print ‘First Name: %s’ % row[‘p.first’]
print ‘Last Name: %s’ % row[‘p.last’]
print ‘House #: %s’ % row[‘a.housenum’]
print ‘Street: %s’ % row[‘a.street’]
print ‘City: %s’ % row[‘a.city’]
print ‘State: %s’ % row[‘a.state’]
print ‘Zip: %s’ % row[‘a.zip’]
conn.close()
import sqlite
conn = sqlite.connection(‘contact.db’)
cursor = conn.cursor()
sql = ‘SELECT * FROM person p, info i ‘ +
‘WHERE i.id=p.info_id’
cursor.execute(sql)
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
print ‘First Name: %s’ % row[‘p.first’]
print ‘Last Name: %s’ % row[‘p.last’]
print ‘Email: %s’ % row[‘i.email’]
print ‘Homepage: %s’ % row[‘i.homepage’]
print ‘Twitter: %s’ % row[‘i.twitter’]
print ‘Skype: %s’ % row[‘i.skype’]
print ‘Cell: %s’ % row[‘i.cell’]
conn.close()
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16. Software companies are scared to
death of copyleft licenses – even
software companies that use and are
involved in open source.
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17. Proprietary Copyleft Non-Copyleft
More Restrictive More Free
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18. Freedom – For Whom?
Copyleft Licenses:
• Restrict freedom of
users of the original
content
• Preserve freedom of
creators of the original
content
Non-Copyleft Licenses:
• Preserve freedom of
users of the original
content
• Restrict freedom of
creators of the original
content
Tuesday, May 7, 13

19. Why do we use and contribute to
open source software?
We believe in the strength of community
Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
Broad participation creates better software
Don’t want to maintain our own patches
Focus on creating more value
Karma
Because the license forces us to???
Tuesday, May 7, 13

20. Copyleft – Essential for the sucess of
open source in the 1990s
Today – Is it still necessary?
Tuesday, May 7, 13

21. Reasons to stick with a copyleft
license
You want to legally require fair participation
Example: A joint open-source venture between software companies
You are participating on projects that are already copyleft
You are old school
You are lazy and don’t want to do your homework
Tuesday, May 7, 13

22. Reasons to consider a non-copyleft
license
Encourage participation by software companies
Broader adoption means larger community
Larger community means stronger code
People who get open source will give back anyway
A license won’t force people to give back if they wouldn’t otherwise
Tuesday, May 7, 13

23. Matt Ryan
@mattvryan
http://www.mvryan.org
https://github.com/mattvryan
Tuesday, May 7, 13

24. Licensing
Slide 6 - “Twilight” Book Cover: Source: John Lambert Pearson, License: CC BY 2.0
“Twilight” © 2005 by Stephanie Meyer
Slide 7 - Mona Lisa L.H.O.O.Q: Public Domain
Slide 10 - Cheating Student: Source
Slide 11 - Brains and Gears: Source: Jean-Remy Duboc, License: CC BY 2.0
Slide 12 - Astronomical Clock: Source: Anthony Dodd, License: CC BY-NC 3.0
Slide 13 - Copyleft Symbol: Public Domain
All other content: Created by Matt Ryan CC BY-SA 3.0
Tuesday, May 7, 13