Obvious Diversion

Any book review’s worth to you should be regarded in the experience and viewpoint of the person who wrote the review. A reviewer simply saying that a book was helpful isn’t helpful at all. It’s a question of what the reviewer brings to the table and what they are hoping to gain from it’s reading. If your background and motivation match the reviewers at least in part, then the review is a worthwhile thing to read.

An Introduction

So let me introduce myself as a reviewer. I’ve worked in technology for 8 years now starting first in web development and steaming media, working my way through multiple mobile phone startups, large media companies and individual consulting. These days, I function in nearly equal parts coder, strategist and product designer. I also like romantic dinners and walks on the beach. I am, to one degree or another, all of these things, but what I most definitely am not is someone with the patience to study or practice contract law. I find it seriously mundane and too sleep-inducing for my makeup. As a result I picked up O’Reilly’s Understanding Open Source & Free Software Licensing in the hopes of overcoming this deficiency.

Why This Book Matters

Contract law has taken on a new focus for those who work in software due in large part to the rise of open and free source software. When releasing software out to the world, besides the coding and polishing you now need to decide on a particular license and there are very many to choose from in any category. I picked up Understanding Open Source in the hopes that it would break down the difference between the various licenses available and allow me to make clear and easy decisions as to which license is appropriate for my various projects. On finishing the book I came away disappointed not so much with the scope of it’s content, but with the presentation.

What it Covers

The book covers a large list of licenses in only 193 pages including MIT, BSD, Apache, Academic Free License, GPL, LGPL, the Mozilla Public License, the Q public license, the Artistic license, Creative Commons and some review of non-open source licenses including ones from Sun and Microsoft. It’s an impressive range of licenses and my only disappointment in it’s reach is that it did not tackle the MySQL and PHP licenses.

What This Book Is

The book, in it’s desire to be comprehensive, fails to be illuminating and not by a lack of comprehension but by a failure of presentation. It presents each contract in roughly the following format: each clause of the license is shown in it’s actual form and is then followed by an explanation of what that section of the clause means and possibly how it compares to an already presented license. It continues in this fashion until the end of the license is reached and then it moves on to the next license. It is annotation, which is a very thorough exercise in this volume, but it is not enlightening when trying to gain a clear understanding of your options in a reasonable amount of time.

What I Wish This Book Would Have Been

Unless your mind has an affection for this sort of material, about fifty pages in you will find yourself getting tired of the comprehensiveness. What would have suited me better would be a more general overview of each license spotlighting it’s distinguishing marks, what sort of software a particular license might be good for, a table displaying the comparative features and differences of each license then followed by what this book does do well: a section by section reference and explanation of each clause. It’s failure to do so does not make this book an instructive volume, but a reference volume.

A Final Word

Did I gain more knowledge about the various licenses available to software authors? Absolutely, but the journey was more painful than it needed to be. Upon finishing the book, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a faster and less arduous way to gain what I was seeking. If you need a good reference to look up a particular clause on a given moment, then this book will suit you well. It will also be a reasonable choice for anyone with some legal experience who doesn’t find pouring over the details so painful. For the rest of us, this book is probably not the best option. For non-legal types looking to add legal insight to their usual role of coder or producer or manager or whatever non-legal role you play, this is not the introduction you were hoping for.

Please feel free to contribute any suggestions you may have as alternatives for learning about software contract law.