Deutsche Version
The
OpenSource Software
Collaboration Counseling
The Mediator for Collaboration in OpenSource Software
Collaboration between different OpenSource Software groups and projects
currently increasingly suffers from a wide variety of OSS licenses.
This problem is caused by the imperfect compatibility of the licenses.
The OpenSource Software Collaboration Counseling (OSSCC) has the mission
to foster collaboration between different OpenSource Software groups and projects.
The OSSCC offers amongst others to
counsel authors
with making licensing decisions that allow best collaboration
with other projects.
The OpenSource Software development model was introduced on a
greater base after the Usenet system appeared in 1979. The Usenet
allowed for easy world-wide OSS distribution. In the early
days when people like Larry Wall and Rich Salz initiated the
OpenSource Movement
idea, most OSS software was distributed under very permissive licenses.
In the late 1980s, less permissive OSS licenses came up and with the
broader availability of internet access since the mid 1990s, many
OSS licenses have been created. Unfortunately, a wide variety of
less permissive OSS licenses introduced license incompatibilities.
To support collaboration, OSS authors should select OSS licenses that
are compatible with each other and that allow to create greater works
based on code from different sources.
For better collaboration, it would also desirable to select licenses that
allow code flow from and to any project using an
OSI compliant
license to any other project using an OSI compliant license.
As some licenses create a one-way of code flow towards the specific license,
licenses need to be selected carefully in order to grant collaboration that is
more than a one-way.
The OSSCC tries to support collaboration based the thoughts on license
proliferation
initiated by the OpenSource Initiative
and to help with selecting compatible licenses.
To simplify license selection, we provide the
OSSCC license interoperability guide
together with a commented list of
preferred OSS licenses.
The OSSCC also tries to provide a platform to support collaboration between
existing currently separate OSS entities and to politically support OSS.
The OSSCC is currently a group of volunteering people located in Germany
and Norway but we are looking for more contributors and staff members worldwide.
If you like to contribute, you are welcome.
We currently have a special need of web-designers, translators and lawyers.
If you like to help with contacting other people, you are of course also
welcome to become a OSSCC collaborator. If you are a member of an
existing OSS community that is interested in better collaboration, you
are of course welcome as well.
You may contact us by sending mail to: info at osscc.net
Impressum
OSSCC T-shirts & Mugs