[K12OSN] advice needed re: GPL, creative commons etc

[john]

Thanks for the reply Tom. It was very helpful. I agree with your advice re:
open platform for future software development. Wish I could control stuff
like that :-(

John

On 8/28/06, Tom Hoffman <tom.hoffman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 8/28/06, john <lists.john at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > One of the programs at our School District has worked with a developer
> to
> > create an online database using FileMaker Pro. The database is an online
> > tool used to track portfolios for independent study students and match
> them
> > against state ELARS. We'd like to share this database with others by
> making
> > it available for download on our website. Folks who used it would also
> need
> > to have a copy of FileMaker Pro. My question is can we release the
> database
> > under the GPL or Creative Commons without violating the terms of the FMP
> > license? Or should we just throw it out there as "freeware"?
>
> It doesn't seem like you have much to gain in this point by trying to
> apply a free software or Creative Commons license to the work,
> compared to just releasing it as vague "freeware."  That is, I don't
> imagine you'd be too worried that someone else is going to integrate
> it into their commercial FileMaker distribution, or something like
> that, which you might control with the GPL or CC license.
>
> I am not a lawyer, but I do know that you are making specific claims
> about your work when you use either of those licenses, which are more
> involved than they might seem on the surface, and if you simply want
> to make this stuff available without worrying about it, I'd take a
> naive approach and just stick this stuff up in the public domain.
>
> Just to be clear, I think it is fairly likely that you could release
> this under a free software license or CC license, but I think that may
> be unnecessarily complicating the situation.
>
> And in the future, you should use a free software web stack like Ruby
> On Rails or Django to do this kind of thing, and then releasing your
> work under a free software license is more straightforward.  ;-)
>
> --Tom
>
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