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____/ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on Wednesday 17 September 2008 14:43 : \____
> On Sep 17, 5:57 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
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>> In acquiring Merrill Lynch, must Bank of America open source its software?
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Lost in the rubble of the teetering titans of finance is an open question:
>> | what will happen to the open-source software that they have heavily
>> | modified and upon which many have built core business applications?
>> |
>> | It's a nontrivial question. Bank of America just acquired Merrill Lynch.
>> | Merrill Lynch was a heavy adopter of and modifier of open-source software.
>> | Because it never distributed that software, it was able to keep its
>> | modifications private.
>> `----
>>
>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10043029-16.html
>>
>> Recent:
>>
>> Suncorp envisages Linux, ODF for 20,000 desktops
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Open source software is set to play an increasingly important role at
>> | Australia's sixth largest bank, according to Smith, who said that Suncorp
>> | will look to use open source "wherever we can".
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Suncorp-envisages-Linux-ODF...
>>
>> Related:
>>
>> FNB switches 12 000 desktops to Linux
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | With 12 000 desktops switching to Linux this is very likely the
>> | most significant Linux and open source implementation in South
>> | Africa to date.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1562
>
> It's an interesting question. My sense of propriety says that B of A
> should be allowed to continue to use the software for internal
> purposes, without releasing it, that is, to continue with the same
> provisions of the license that were used by Merrill Lynch. But IANAL,
> what do I know? I would have thrown out the Caldera law suits the
> moment they refused to provide evidence of infringing code (ie many
> years ago).
>
> The more I think about this, it's a complicated question. If Merrill
> Lynch wrote a bunch of code for internal purposes, never intending to
> have it opened to the public, there might be all kinds of things in
> there.
Well, if they don't distribute it, then they modify it for personal use. I
believe that's fine. I've hacked a lot of software to my needs, but there's no
point in distributing it because changes are small and inelegant.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Avoid missing ball for higher score"
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
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