http://thinkinginsideabiggerbox.disqus.com/enSun, 06 Feb 2005 22:15:35 -0000http://johannesbrodwall.com/2004/11/30/open-source-nirvana/#comment-1795618<p>Hi, Rod</p><p>Thanks for contributing.</p><p>I am wondering if you could provide further information or references to the IP issues you refer to. Are these organizational issues (for example: An individual contributor haven't cleared the issues with his employer)?</p><p>~Johannes</p>Johannes BrodwallSun, 06 Feb 2005 22:15:35 -0000http://johannesbrodwall.com/2004/11/30/open-source-nirvana/#comment-1795617<p>Hi Johannes,</p><p>I think in general it would be better for the industry as a whole for "consumers" of open source to contribute more back. Yet there are many reasons that doesn't happen so much--not least of them, the IP issues. (For example, we would not want any contributions to Spring that could potentially have unclear IP issues.) I think the issue of advantaging competitors is not so significant--very often, useful contributions are quite generic, like the frameworks themselves. Clearly it would be unreasonable, for example, to expect a company that implemented one of its core business algorithms as an extension of Spring to open that up to its rivals.</p><p>But of course using the framework and reporting bugs/suggesting improvements on mailing lists/issue trackers is an important contribution in itself. It is *definitely* short-sighted to be a "silent" user of any project, open source or commercial: not in your interests or anyone else's.</p><p>Rgds<br>Rod</p>Rod JohnsonSun, 06 Feb 2005 21:47:17 -0000