[Asterisk-Users] Re: Re: Digium Website Update: Asterisk Business Edition

[Brian Capouch]

Daryll Strauss wrote:
> 
> I'm not comfortable with Digiums policy of having to sign over my code
> to them. Although I've seen no signs of malice on their part, it just
> doesn't sit right with me. I write code for a living, and if companies
> are involved I expect to be paid for it. I can chose to release code
> under BSD (and therefore get no say in how it is used) or I can release
> it under the GPL (and make sure everyone shares it). Digium is
> essentially asking me to write code and donate it to them without
> getting paid, and if they like it they'll keep a copy and release a copy
> under the GPL. Individuals donating to companies doesn't make a lot of
> sense to me, so I won't do that. That means I can choose to not
> distribute my code, or make it available under the GPL and make other
> people treat it as a patch to Digium's tree.
> 
> One of benefits of open source is that the contributors have a say in
> this matter. If contributors really don't like it, there's no reason
> they couldn't start a "libre asterisk" project on SourceForge. The
> downside of that the members of the libre project would have to merge
> the Digium code at regular intervals. It takes some effort. It also
> requires getting enough of a community to make it worthwhile. If enough
> people contribute to the libre project instead of directly to Digium,
> then Digium may find it's not worth the effort of continuing their
> contribution policy, just like what happened with XFree86. It is
> available as an option, for those people who think it is enough of an
> issue and want to do the work involved.
> 

As I have been reading this thread one "missing angle" that perhaps 
should be addressed by those who are bothered by the current licensing 
scheme is this: what alternative means exist out there for Digium to try 
to ensure their corporate existence?

We can all see that in the backroom down in Huntsville there is a pretty 
fair-sized phalanx of people whose time is spent on Asterisk, not 
Digium's other business.  Those people need to eat, and Digium needs to 
make a profit in order to insure that Asterisk isn't simply just 
maintained, but can grow and respond to what we all have to concede is a 
very rapidly-changing technological environment.

I haven't been around since Day One, but was around at the point that 
the "market" hadn't yet decided between Asterisk, VOCAL, Voxilla, etc., 
and the Asterisk project was way, way smaller than it is right now.

Back then, Digium was a much smaller company.  Mark and Greg (and I'm 
sure others who I didn't have as much contact with) used to pretty 
publicly explain their rationale for the exact model Mark had chosen, 
and one worry that was expressed more than once was, "Beyond our simple 
continuation in existence as a business, what would happen to Asterisk 
if we *don't* make it, and this model doesn't generate enough revenue 
for us to continue to fund its development?"

One thing I see lacking in this thread is a discussion of alternatives 
that would meet the relatively small list of desiderata: keep Asterisk 
open and free, make enough money to pay for the ongoing cost of Asterisk 
development, and provide enough return that it would make sense for 
Digium to exist as a commercial enterprise.

How else could it be done?

B.