Which license is the best license for business? For community? For academia? For government? What are the key factors that influence the decision regarding an open source license? Are there certain things you should look out for?

This debate featured a panel of experts to examine the key factors influencing the decision to choose a particular license, as well as the subtle differences between the GPL, EPL, and BSD licences. These licenses cover a good range of the open source license spectrum.

The panel was:

• Eclipse Foundation Executive Director, Mike Milinkovich
• Alfresco VP Business Development, Matt Asay
• Coverity Open Source Strategist, David Maxwell

Which Open Source License is Best? from Andrew Ross on Vimeo.

The video is also available in ogg format. As well, an mp3 is available.

The following are the judges decisions regarding who won the debate:

• Jay Lyman picked Mike Milinkovich (EPL)
• Deb Woods picked Matt Asay (GPL)
• Randal Schwartz picked David Maxwell (BSD)
• Chris Tyler - picked Matt Asay (GPL)

Thus the overall winner of the debate, the much coveted fosslc debate trophy, and bragging rights is...

Matt Asay whom advocated for the GPL. Congratulations Matt!

Short vignettes of the debate are also available.

We encourage comments. Anonymous posts are welcome. (spam will be nuked in short order)

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