> From: Pekka Savola <pekkas@netcore.fi> > ... > .. If it takes a lawyer to write (or understand) licensing terms, they're > probably too complex .. Something like "the programmer who is his own IP lawyer has a fool for a client" applies. In other words, if you need to sign a license, then it takes a lawyer to understand its terms. 10 or 15 years ago people said that free RFCs versus expensive ITU (ISO) standards were a major advantage of the DDN Protocol Suite. Today, the cost of necessary legal advice dwarfs those old documentation fees by orders of magnitude. This is all merely sweeping against the tide. I predict all of this noise will come to nothing but affirming the IETF's IP status quo. The IETF has always had too many people who without the faintest clue or interest in implementing anything, except when they mean "unpack a box and plug it in." That problem has continued to worsen over the years and has been joined by another problem. Many of the ever fewer IETF implementors (or their employers) now hope to get rich (or avoid bankruptcy) by selling IP licenses. Vernon Schryver vjs@rhyolite.com