Had dinner last night with Miguel and a bunch of folks from Microsoft.  Joshua jotted down some thoughts.  We also talked about xmlsuck and xmlbastard.  I enjoy when people who are informed on a subject have strong opinions.

Rest assured, Joshua, that I am not easily offended.  Actually, I found the discussion on open source and licenses fascinating.  Particularly when asked for advice on how to sell such a concept to management.  For quite a while, I've seen similar people struggle with similar issues, and seen where these people and their companies ended up a few years later. 

The important thing to focus on is community.  The shape and constitution of the fences are key aspects of the definition of any community.  Those inside the community benefit by the cohesion.  Those outside inevitably strive to tear down the walls.  Apache's license, in a nutshell, benefits everyone who does not attempt to pass of our work as their own.  The GPL license is all about sharing with people who are willing to share in return.  Neither are evil nor panaceas.  They are merely tools that are effective in some circumstances, and inappropriate in others.

Regarding selling the concept... business people often readily accept the need to contribute to standards, participate in strategic partnerships, and even the need to develop software that can be downloaded without cost.  In each case, the cost can be high and when looked at narrowly, i.e., the ROI appears unjustifiable.  However, each are routinely done because when you look at the big picture, the total ROI associated with ubiquitous implementations of industry standards can be enormous.  Apache SOAP, and now Axis are examples of this.  In this case, the relationship to standards creation and the need for the results to be freely downloadable are obvious.  And open source can often be an effective mechanism for achieving the goal of creating strategic partnerships in a timely, fair, and cost effective manner.

  10:47:43 AM