Re: [seul-edu] SEUL Licensing (was: Our presence at trade shows)

[Hilaire Fernandes <hilaire@ofset.org>]

Ray Olszewski writes:
 > I too am confused by this discussion, because it seems to me that our goals
 > reflect two incompatible objectives:
 > 
 >         1. To have all software used by schools be free (in a financial 
 >                 sense).

No.  I will use rather libre then, so this make the term non
ambiguous.  Such software can't be maintained, expended, hacked. There
are non free (non libre)

 > The large number of orphaned ecucational software packages out there, and
 > the ones that proceed very slowly because they are developed in someone's
 > "spare" time, highlight the limitations of "free". Until someone solves the
 > problem of getting rewards directed to developers sufficient to attract
 > large numbers of them to developing Linux-based educational apps as their
 > work (not on the side), we will not see the large number of good apps that
 > we want to see available.
 > 
 > Personally, I think that in our approach to schools, we are too stuck in the
 > trap that Linux is free (in a financial sense). It encourages schools to
 > want to be on the receiving end of largesse, rather than to commit resources
 > to support an OS, and related apps, that are valuable for reasons that go
 > beyond their cost. 

OFSET will open a special instituion fee so that organization can
support free software in education. This is one possibility
(http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/regulation.html)



 > 
 > I'd be curious to read an explanation of why developers giving away their
 > software (surely the "free" in Hilaire's paragraph below means zero price)
 > is reasonably characterized as "an equitable sharing of these tools of
 > knowledge." Or, if not, how one might provide compensation for developers
 > while preserving zero-price distribution to schools. Are grants a real
 > alternative or a pipe dream?

I was talking about end user: Bob's parent are rich, it's school has
all last-great-expensive-edu soft. Rob's parent are poor, etc. You get
the picture.