June 16th 2005 #
random, June 16th 2005
Not Impressed By Lispwire
Franz Inc. seems to lack understanding for the finer things in life, at least if Lispwire is anything to go by. It promises to be "the repository for modern Lisp software and classic Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.".
This falls somewhat flat given what the legal section specifies among other things:
- Your use of the Site constitutes your binding acceptance of the TOU, including any modifications that Franz makes. === We Say Jump, You Look Like A Frog
- Franz hereby grants you a terminable, at-will, non-exclusive license (the "License") to use and display the Site solely for your personal, non-commercial use. === No using this site for actually making any profit or from work.
- You hereby grant Franz a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, nonexclusive, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, transfer, transmit, distribute and publish Your Content and subsequent versions of Your Content for the purposes of (i) displaying Your Content on our sites, or (ii) distributing Your Content, either electronically or via other media, to users seeking to download or otherwise acquire it. This license shall apply to the distribution and the storage of Your Content in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed. === No matter what your original license, Franz now owns your software as long at it has a customer for it to fullfill (ii).
- You agree not to ... Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services for any commercial purpose, or transmit surveys, contests, ... === No mentioning that you are available for consulting. No mentioning that FooBar has a fine product, maybe better then Franz. No asking people questions about how they use your software. No offering bounties.
- Collect or store personal information about other users of the Site; === Is just silly. "Don't save anyone's email address."
- You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold Franz, and all of its officers, directors, owners, employees, agents, information providers, affiliates, partners and licensors (each, a "Franz Party") harmless from and against any and all liability, losses, costs and expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred by any Franz Party in connection with any claim including, but not limited to, claims for defamation, violation of rights of publicity and/or privacy, copyright infringement or trademark infringement arising out of (i) your use of the Site; === You Don't Get To Complain If Your Ass Feels Sore after #3.
Now, IANAL, let alone a merkin, and you may say that the site is still a mockup, but I say that this demonstrates an incredible lack of clue. Franz claims to be interested in the OSS lisp community, but this seem rather vacuous: instead of this pos they could have funded the ex-ALU.cliki, common-lisp.net, or even just talked openly to people in the community to find out what is needed an what is not. (Hint: Lispwire is not.)
In all fairness I can understand the reluctance of Franz to really embrace the community, as the OSS lisp sofware people are rather close to OSS lisp implementations people — as the latter are at least in theory competitors of Franz. Dunno if that has any real bearing on this, though.
In case someone misreads my intention, allow me to re-iterate: I bear no ill will towards Franz, but impressed by their attempts to reach out I am not.