On Tue, Aug 2, 2016, at 02:26 PM, Kate wrote:
I believe that our tools should remain free to users and we should strategize other ways to make money. "Pay what you can" software is an idea widely understood in the global north; is it also in the global south? Pay with what? Bitcoin? Credit cards? If you get the software installed at your local roadside store, who do you pay? These are all barriers to using Tor.
Just to be clear, if what someone can pay is "nothing" they are free to do so in the "pay what you can" scenario, without stigma. Perhaps we could ask their contribution to just spread the word.
Within this contract, I think Mike and I are both just asking for this kind of future option to not be off the table.
Perhaps if it is always stated as an "optional donation" then it would fit within the "always free" pledge more cleanly?
I agree corporate/commercial licensing is a great option for sustainable revenue generation. Let's make sure this allows for that. In the case of Moxie, his software is not free to developers who was to incorporate it into non GPL software.
+n
Nathan wrote:
I agree corporate/commercial licensing is a great option for sustainable revenue generation. Let's make sure this allows for that. In the case of Moxie, his software is not free to developers who was to incorporate it into non GPL software.
The Social Contract is probably not the place to debate (or record the result of debate about) the specific license used for Tor software.
Nathan seems to have an issue with GPL licensed software. But his argument undercuts his point. GPL licensed free software is *better* for sustainable revenue generation than non-GPL licensed free software. Here's why. Any commercial company that wants to incorporate GPL licensed software into non-GPL licensed proprietary software *must* negotiate with the owner for the privilege, because the public license does not allow them to incorporate it into a proprietary program. The usual result is that if they offer enough money, the owner will offer them a license to use the code in a proprietary program. Free software that uses BSD-like licenses eliminates this negotiation, leaving every commercial company free to incorporate the software without ever paying anything.
An example of software that uses this revenue model is Berkeley DB: It is free to use with free software, but if you want to use it in a proprietary program, you need a separate commercial license:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB#Licensing
John (I'm still living on the proceeds of the company I started in 1991 to write, support and sell GPL and other free software)
tor-project@lists.torproject.org
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John Gilmore -
Nathan Freitas