On Wed, 14 Apr 2004, Guy Harris wrote:
> BTW, here's their position brief on this issue:
>
> http://www.itatinc.com/ClearSight%20%26%20Ethereal.htm
>
> I suppose I have to give them some points for attitude, in their
> insistence that linking Ethereal source code into their proprietary
> application doesn't somehow violate the GPL....
They certainly do not seem to care much for the Ethereal community and
they seem to be prone to taking an adversarial position.
This is the first I have heard of that web page or their position on the
matter.
As someone who works for a company that builds products that uses a number
of open source, we are strongly aware of the need to maintain good
relations with the open source community, and we have worked the issues
backwards and forwards.
One way to avoid situations like what has just occurred is to communicate
with the members of the community whose software you are using. Since we
have an obvious vehicle for communication, I would have thought that the
following actions would have been easy:
1. When considering using/distributing an open source software package,
especially one that uses the GPL, a company should gain input from members
of that community as well as seeking input from lawyers. This seems to me
to be a simple matter of respect. Ask us to see what we think and whether
we can suggest methods of integrating our hard work into your product in
ways that we would be comfortable with. This can be done via the
community's mailing list (ethereal-dev).
2. When a dispute arises, and you publish your point of view, which is
entirely reasonable, post that point of view or a link to it on the
community's mailing list (ethereal-dev).
At the moment, I am left with the feeling that ClearSight has the attitude
that they will take from Ethereal what they want and screw the Ethereal
community.
Regards
-----
Richard Sharpe, rsharpe[at]richardsharpe.com, rsharpe[at]samba.org,
sharpe[at]ethereal.com, http://www.richardsharpe.com