(As a side note, I sent an email to COSTP people, and hope that
they'll be in touch soon. It looks to me -- from their website --
that they just have an idea, and that nothing has actually been _done_
yet. I hope that they are open to help from us, and to helping us.)
Karl Wick wrote:
Did you answer your own question about the California
Open
Source Textbook licenses ?
Yes, but I'm glad you brought it up to the list.
Here is text I pulled from their site: "COSTP
intends to
use Creative Commons licenses for selected content.
Creative Commons licenses allow creators to let the public
to copy and distribute their work, but only on certain
conditions, and while retaining their copyright."
I'm glad to see that they are using Creative Commons licenses, since
many (though not all) of those licenses meet the GNU requirement
for "freedom":
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html
This page has not been updated to include the creative commons
licenses, so it's just my opinion, but I think, based on what Larry
Lessig has told me, that Attribution-Share Alike is the closest in
spirit to the GNU FDL, and that things licensed under Attribution
(without the 'Share Alike' proviso) can actually be relicensed under
the GNU FDL by distributors.
One of the things that I really like about their project, and one
thing that will make their job easier, is the idea of following a
particular set of content standards. Probably if they had enough
labor available to do it, they should follow multiple state standards,
because I can think of no really good reason for them to isolate their
project to the state of California.
Except, their website talks about the potential cost savings to the
state, so perhaps the reason for their focus has something to do with
trying to get some grant money from the state of California.
--Jimbo