“Advocates welcome the idea of Apple’s open-source initiative,
but they have serious misgivings about its software license. Apple
says it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“During Tuesday’s announcement, Eric Raymond, a leading
open-source evangalist, hailed the license as completely open and a
model for other companies to follow.”
“While the license isn’t as restrictive as some feared, it
contains clauses that may prevent the free and open distribution of
Apple’s source code, said Bruce Perens, who together with Raymond
co-founded the Open Source Initiative.”
“Perens said the authors are particularly concerned with a
clause that allows Apple to suspend use of the whole system in the
event of a patent dispute.”
“We are trying to figure out if we can use bits of their code,”
said Jason Haas, LinuxPPC’s marketing manager. ‘But it’s not clear
if we can or not. [Our] code is open and free. Apple’s code is
open, but it’s not free.'”