ietf-mxcomp
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RE: Sendmail releases open source Sender ID milter for testing

2004-09-01 11:12:31

On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 12:55, Harry Katz wrote:

[snip]

Second as per the terms of the license itself, End Users who are
recipients of a licensed implementation of Sender ID and distributors
who are redistributing a branded licensed implementation do not need to
separately sign this License Agreement. 

  This *still* completely ignores the discussion on various threads on
this list that at least with respect to the GPL, and probably many other
FOSS licenses, the distinction between end users and intermediate
developers/re-distributors is non-existent.  Because of this, and
because the published patent license makes this distinction, it makes it
impossible for end users of GPL licensed MTAs that might implement
Sender-ID to exercise a freedom given to them by the GPL: to modify it
and redistribute without permission from a third party.

Finally we have committed to a royalty free license.  That means
Microsoft will never charge a royalty or licensing fee to anyone using
the Sender ID necessary patent claims to implement the Sender ID
specification.

  Most of the discussion has not been about fees, but about freedom
granted by various FOSS licenses being taken away by this patent
licenses.

--
-Paul Iadonisi
 Senior System Administrator
 Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist
 Ever see a penguin fly?  --  Try Linux.
 GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets