[LINK] ISP's thrown $20 million bone by DCITA

[Rick Welykochy]

Howard Lowndes wrote:

>> Regarding open source, an argument can me made that all publicly funded
>> software projects should be open source, since we are the ones paying for
>> them and thus should be able to benefit from the fruits of the project.
> 
> 
> Good argument, but it won't fly.  If the project is being undertaken by 
> private industry then they won't be in it anyway, and if it's being done 
> by academia then they need to lock it down so that they can sell it not 
> give it away.

I don't care what academia or private industry *wants*. It's all about
who owns the intellectual property rights to a the fruits of a project.

Private contractor: the contract will inevitably state that all software
source codes become the property of the contractee, i.e. the gummint.

Academia: if a project is publicly funded, it is pretty simple to stipulate
that a precondition for funding is that the gummint (we the poeple) own
the IP.

All it takes it willpower. And probably a hint of legislation to get it
right.

In this neo-con user-pays post-911 terror-infested winner-takes-all world,
I doubt it will happen ;)

cheers
rickw



-- 
_________________________________
Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

38 is the last Roman numeral when written lexicographically.
      -- http://www.stetson.edu/%7Eefriedma/numbers.html