Re: proposed improvements to PostgreSQL license

At 10:19 6/07/00 -0400, Ron Peterson wrote:
>
>This has happened in PostgreSQL's own history.  How long did it take for
>the project to get picked up again?  How long did it take for the people
>who picked it up to familiarize themselves with the code?  How long did
>it take before the community at large developed any confidence in the
>project's viability?  How much talent was lost?  How many ideas were
>lost?
>
>I believe developers assurances about their desire to maintain
>PostgreSQL as an open source project are sincere.  But I am not going to
>continue investing my time in PostgreSQL unless those assurances are
>backed by contractually binding verbage.

Short of employing the core developers directly, and giving them good
enough conditions to ensure that they stay with you, I don't think you can
acheieve your ends. No license change will help. All a licence does is
tells you what *you* can do with the software.

GPL or BSD, if someone buys up the core developers, their replacements will
have a steep learning curve. Your only choice here is to invest local
talent from your company in the development project so that if the core
developers do leave, then there is a higher chance of a quick uptake.

Or have I missed something? Did you have some kind of "contractually
binding verbage" in mind?
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