Posted on 01/27/2008 5:19:35 AM PST by dayglored
What you can - and cannot do - with your software is often determined by the code owner's license. From not using open source APIs with closed-source digital rights management (DRM) to being barred from fiddling with Windows source code, we've seen it all.
Or have we?
Joining the open source and commercial melee is a document that pretty much rules out using a new JavaScript tool by anyone working in - or associated with - the pharmaceutical, farming and food, and some manufacturing industries. Oh, and certain universities are out, too.
ExtTLD, for developing components on the open source Ext JS framework, has been released under a license apparently suited only to vegans, vegetarians and animal rights activists.
Among the terms, ExtTLD cannot be used in connection with the development and manufacture of products that involve animal testing, products whose ingredients might come from testing on animals or genetically modified organisms involving animal genes.
That means you can't be involved in testing and neither can your products or services.
"Animal product" in this case is defined as a whole cornucopia of items spanning meat, seafood, honey, fur, silk and eggs.
Also out is participation in animal-based sports, such as rodeo riding, and transport of animals - so there go the haulage sectors and, possibly, anybody developing sat-nav systems and applications.
ExtTLD has been devised by one Jaro Benc and is based on Java Enterprise Edition tag files. ExtTLD is a library for Java web developers that generates Ext JS JavaScript at the runtime based on a JSP tag library. ExtTLD is a separate offering to Ext JS.
If ExtTLD sounds like it's right up your dog pound then go here. To check out whether you qualify for this well-meaning but, possibly impossible-to-use, license go here.
But... HONEY??? SILK???
What does such stuff have to do with SOFTWARE???
Tech ping...
Bees and worms are animals too.
Consider them the fetuses of the Animal Liberation Movement.
Yeah, that's an interesting perspective....
I have no objection to folks who care for animals. I do, myself -- I did many years of wildlife rehabilitation that involved dealing with injured and sick skunks, raccoons, birds, and whatnot. I believe that part of our responsibility as stewards of God's Earth is to treat animals properly.
But that doesn't stop me from eating them. I'm an omnivore (except brussel sprouts and red beets, those things are deadly). And wearing them (my favorite outerwear is my leather H-D jacket). And I don't have any problem wiping out a hornets' nest if it's on my house.
In any case, animal rights crazies should stay the hell away from software licenses. This is just stupid.
I agree with you that we have a god-given responsibility to treat animals humanely, and the Animal Liberation movement goes a too far. But I actually hold those “Whole Foods” and assorted business-”liberals” in greater contempt. You know those “free range” chickens they sell in stores now? You think they’ve spent their entire lives walking around a farm - but that’s not the case, it only spends one week out of it’s cages. The chicken’s life is 12 weeks long (or something like that). And for that one week, they are able to charge an extra $3 a pound.
But their software license is just property rights - they’ve made a product and you have to follow their rules if you want to use it.
If that is true, and I have no reason to doubt you at all, then "factory" raised chickens have a far less confined life. They too are about 12 weeks old, but spend at most a few hours in a cage -- when they are being transported to the processing plant.
Oh, I don't object -- on a legal basis -- to their tying animal rights to software licensing. I just think it's stupid and pointless. Among other things, it severely limits their market to those who are as radical as they are.
“Stalking the Wild Asparagus”, eh?
Ummm, is WHAT better? I don't see anything...
Organic milk for example usually only means that the cow had access to a pasture part of the day during clement weather. In the north that means that during the winter that organic cows are treated pretty much the same as the non-organic.
This raises all sorts of possibilities, most of the bad.
For instance, could you forbid the use of your software to any organization or individual that supports the Republican party, based on public records? How about avowed Christians? A particular race?
WOW. That’s so rich it’s nearly obscene. I didn’t think you could do that with vegetables... ;-)
This innovative license combines property rights with political and ideological activism. It opens another front on the war the left is conducting against those not on the left. It invites license restrictions against Christians, conservatives, pro-life groups, pro-RKBA web sites, etc.
LOL!!!
Tasty asparagus, YUM!
I agree with you about the beets. I have no idea how Russians based their national soup on the things. Yuk. I also dislike Brussel Sprouts but the real killer for me is asparagus.
What a moronic license..
Is the product sold in stores? If so, how do they propose to check out every customer who buys a copy? Just wondering?
This gets interesting. It's your copyrighted product, so you have control of the distribution, so you don't sell to X group. But a restriction on copyright is the doctrine of First Sale, which is you have no control over where it goes and for how much after that initial sale or distribution, no matter what your license says.
So, a veg-head gets this and then gives it to a meat packing plant. Did this license restriction survive First Sale?
No, it’s freeware/open source programming tools - so the customer base is quite limited to begin with.
If you violate the license, they can sue for all the profits you make off the software and probably for a bunch more stuff as well.
One word:Sun
You need to try some real asparagus. Go to Germany in late spring/early summer and have something made in the country with Spargel. I'd always hated asparagus until I unknowingly had such a dish. It's the difference between a fresh tomato grown out of your own garden and the red cardboard slab on a McDonald's burger.
I’m not sure it’s much different from how I’ll avoid patronizing stores that have “No Guns Allowed” signs in the storefront.
IMO, it’s stupid for any business to publicize its political preferences. I’m sure, just based on the law of averages, that some of the people I sell equipment to are probably far to the left of me. But it never comes up, because those people have a job to do, and I have to be able to support my family. I’d be a fool to lose a sale because my politics differed from my customer’s.
Does that also include shoes?
Red x, bro.
See post #15.
Probablly not sold in stores its a one off app only a hand full of developers would use. They will have to enforce it the same way licenses like the GPL are enforced..
A lotta eyes looking for abuse..
Never thought about that aspect of it but licenses like the GPL survive first sale (as does MS’s license)
But neither says who can use it. OTOH, First Sale with software doesn't have a consistent judicial history yet. Whether it's enforced depends on your circuit court.
I just searched at the Copyright Office, and it looks like this isn't registered. So I believe he can only go for damages, which are $0 for free software, and an injunction to cease any distribution or use.
Unbelievable. From their site (the spelling errors) are theirs, LOL! Wonder how many coding errors there are in their product?
“Terms of use
Use of Ext is under the Ext JS license, for more information, please visit the license page. If you are interested in using the ExtTLD library please check our list of ethical criteria. If you are an individual, group or non-profit (organisation) that supports animal rights, please don’t hesitate to contact us to find out how ExtTLD can help you.”
Thanks for the tip. If I get the opportunity I’ll give it a try.
Generally under OSS licenses if you refuse the terms of the license (or violate them) the license becomes void and the terms revert to standard copyright.
Which means that if you don't have the express written consent of the copyright holder, you don't have the right to use it.
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