XFree86 License Change

[Jason Dixon]

On Wed, 2004-02-18 at 11:20, Rodolfo J. Paiz wrote:
> At 09:36 2/18/2004, you wrote:
> >Read this morning on Slashdot that other distros are not going to support 
> >4.4 due to this problem.  I think Debian is backing out of 4.4 and going 
> >back to 4.3.
> 
> Anyone care to comment on the consequences and implications for the 
> end-user? I am not particularly license-literate, so while this raises a 
> great deal of concern I am not sure quite what to make of it.

None, so far as I see.  This can be a good thing, no matter how it turns
out.  If it means forking X, or perhaps quicker adoption of
freedesktop's X, great.  If all the pressure from distributors
continues, and XFree86 backs down to their pre-4.4 license, great.  On
one hand we get an organization with a better grasp of the end-user.  On
the other, we see the strength of the OSS community.  Mind you, this
isn't a Red Hat issue.  It's not even a Linux issue.  There are a LOT of
projects out there that depend on a free X.  That's a lot of weight to
bear for one Mr. Dawes.

I mean, it's not like we don't have alternatives.  It's not like X just
matured yesterday.  Anyone can take 4.3 and fork.

Nothing to see here folks, just my $0.02.  Please move on.

-- 
Jason Dixon, RHCE
DixonGroup Consulting
http://www.dixongroup.net