undefined | Better HN

0 pointspjmlp11mo ago0 comments

Adding the copyright notice to be in compliance, does not change the fact that the author has chosen a licence that allows anyone, including Microsoft, to do whatever they feel like, without giving back.

So eventually, with this bad publicity, they will add the copyright notice, and move on with whatever else they are doing, in full compliance.

0 comments

Nemo_bis11mo ago

Microsoft did not bother to respect even the MIT license, so clearly the license is not the problem.

pjmlpOP11mo ago

Not arguing for Microsoft, rather the fact that people put out MIT licenced stuff out there, or similar, arguing how bad GPL happens to be, and then get all up in arms when companies do exactly what the licence allows for.

Microsoft might not have fully complied with the licence, adding the copyright notice to fix that, won't change a millimeter from what they are doing.

Nemo_bis11mo ago

I don't disagree with the general point but in this case we're looking at what (seems to be) a blatant copyright violation. It would not be any more or less of a violation if the infringed license had been a more or less permissive one, because the license has not been followed.

Sure, the MIT is very permissive so it's very easy for Microsoft to correct their repository so that it's in compliance for the future, but they cannot correct the past. (Unless the original authors allow for it.) The MIT license, being so short, does not have a provision about curing infringements.

So Microsoft seems to be ok with the risk of being sued for infringement etc. That's not something you can correct with your personal decisions as author.

1 more reply

fkyoureadthedoc11mo ago

That doesn't mean that they would have completely ignored all implications of any other license. The author of the code chose a license that explicitly allows exactly what happened, other than Microsoft did not include a text file that nobody is going to read.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

Nemo_bis11mo ago

Microsoft did not bother to respect even the MIT license, so clearly the license is not the problem.

pjmlpOP11mo ago

Microsoft might not have fully complied with the licence, adding the copyright notice to fix that, won't change a millimeter from what they are doing.

Nemo_bis11mo ago

So Microsoft seems to be ok with the risk of being sued for infringement etc. That's not something you can correct with your personal decisions as author.

1 more reply

fkyoureadthedoc11mo ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse