4 ms·

I wonder how do you expect a high school kid or collage student to afford insurance and get "some sort of license to practice"? Say goodbye to Linux - released

by kjksf 2y ago

I wonder how do you expect a high school kid or collage student to afford insurance and get "some sort of license to practice"? Say goodbye to Linux - released by college student. Say goodbye to Winamp - released by a high schooler. Say goodbye to GTK+ and GIMP - released by 2 college students. Say goodbye to web browsers - why would Tim Barners-Lee or his employer CERN release a free product not related to their core mission if they could get sued by thousands of people?

eesmith 2y ago
Linux, open source, not covered under this requirement. Wikipedia tells me 'Winamp was first released in 1997, when Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev,[6][7][8] formerly students at the University of Utah', which makes them not high-schoolers. It was released by Nullsoft, Inc. GTK+ and GIMP, open source, not covered under this requirement. CERN httpd, open source, not covered under this requirement. By 'not covered under this requirement' I mean the following text in the directive applies: > Free and open-source software, whereby the source code is openly shared and users can freely access, use, modify and redistribute the software or modified versions thereof, can contribute to research and innovation on the market. Such software is subject to licences that allow anyone the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. In order not to hamper innovation or research, this Directive should not apply to free and open-source software developed or supplied outside the course of a commercial activity, since products so developed or supplied are by definition not placed on the market.
- spwa4 2y ago
  And how does it apply to open source software if commercial activity is done with it. You install a PBX at a customer site? You install LibreOffice at a government site? The way I read this it's the first person that uses this for a commercial application that becomes liable.
  - eesmith 2y ago
    That has squat all to do with a 'high school kid or collage student' or CERN, which was the concern of the comment I replied to. If you install a PBX which is two years out of date and has a high-severity, easily-triggered security hole which has since been patched, who is responsible? Who should be responsible?
    - spwa4 2y ago
      The manager who explicitly demanded you install that version because that's what their nephew said was the best version?
      - eesmith 2y ago
        By my reading, that means you are not a manufacturer of the software so are not covered under this directive.

by kjksf 2y ago

eesmith 2y ago

Linux, open source, not covered under this requirement. Wikipedia tells me 'Winamp was first released in 1997, when Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev,[6][7][8] formerly students at the University of Utah', which makes them not high-schoolers. It was released by Nullsoft, Inc. GTK+ and GIMP, open source, not covered under this requirement. CERN httpd, open source, not covered under this requirement. By 'not covered under this requirement' I mean the following text in the directive applies: > Free and open-source software, whereby the source code is openly shared and users can freely access, use, modify and redistribute the software or modified versions thereof, can contribute to research and innovation on the market. Such software is subject to licences that allow anyone the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. In order not to hamper innovation or research, this Directive should not apply to free and open-source software developed or supplied outside the course of a commercial activity, since products so developed or supplied are by definition not placed on the market.

spwa4 2y ago
And how does it apply to open source software if commercial activity is done with it. You install a PBX at a customer site? You install LibreOffice at a government site? The way I read this it's the first person that uses this for a commercial application that becomes liable.
- eesmith 2y ago
  That has squat all to do with a 'high school kid or collage student' or CERN, which was the concern of the comment I replied to. If you install a PBX which is two years out of date and has a high-severity, easily-triggered security hole which has since been patched, who is responsible? Who should be responsible?
  - spwa4 2y ago
    The manager who explicitly demanded you install that version because that's what their nephew said was the best version?
    - eesmith 2y ago
      By my reading, that means you are not a manufacturer of the software so are not covered under this directive.