[Chicago] Capistrano alternatives
Ted Pollari
tcp at mac.com
Tue Jan 6 03:12:16 CET 2009
On Jan 5, 2009, at 3:12 PM, Ian Bicking wrote:
> I've gotten weird pushback from lawyers that statements of my intent
> aren't meaningful compared the license itself (despite the LGPL and
> GPL often being unclear anyway). I read this as bullshit, and it's
> made me wary of lawyers as good predictors of legal issues. (If you
> ask me about my licensing, and I say I'm not going to sue you, what
> more do you need?)
It makes complete sense -- because no matter what you *say* you still
have the right to bring a lawsuit unless the license is amended/
changed and therefore it's a liability. In the eyes of the law, the
license *is* the statement of intent to give up the right to bring
suit. Anything else isn't legally binding (heck, even licenses aren't
always binding until they're tested.)
So, to your question, if you say you're not going to sue me, what more
do I need? Well, I, personally, trust you Ian, probably even enough
to stake a good part of my livelihood on that trust, but in general,
that's not a sustainable position, at least not when faced with the
threat of lawsuits. It's all about risks and rewards vs. costs.
In the end, lawyers are like guns -- they're weapons often wielded by
people who fail to think before they cause damage. For the most part,
lawyers don't cause issues on their own -- they're always working for
someone who wants something.
Don't go into a room of friends waving a gun around and expect them to
remain friends -- but if you don't feel safe, by all means, you may
well need one. Same thing goes with lawyers and threats of lawsuits.
my take at least...
-tcp
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