dmaxwell's blog

The Free and Open Source Software Learning Center hosted a debate between representatives for three different open source license alternatives.

I was asked to participate as one of the debaters, presenting my view of the advantages of the BSD license.

The 'debate' was very friendly in nature, and was very much intended to be informative and entertaining.

FOSSLC managed to get a great mix of debaters and judges - I think the judging reveals that people's license preference depends a lot on what you're doing with open source software.

Here's a link to the video of the debate (two hours!), and the judges' commentary.

http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/node/523

Under the Security & Vulnerabilities section of Fossbazaar, you can find a copy of Coverity's press release about Rung 2 on the Scan Ladder, but you might prefer an introduction to how software quality and security affects open source governance.

Software is not an abstract concept. It's a concrete one. However the concept of software quality is a very subjective matter.

Falling back on analogy, cars are very concrete objects, but which car is 'better' depends on the task it is going to be used for, and to a great degree on personal preference as well. A Jeep and a Miata are both vehicles, but knowing whether the challenge you'll face is in cornering or in rough terrain will determine success or failure.