Matt Asay of C|Net has an article entitled Facebook adopts the CPAL poison pill where he writes
Instead, by choosing CPAL, Facebook has ensured that it can be open source without anyone actually using its source. Was that the intent?
As OStatic explains, CPAL requires display of an attribution notice on derivative works. This practice, which effectively requires downstream code to carry the original developer(s)' logo, came to be known as "badgeware." It was approved by the OSI but continues to be viewed with suspicion within the open-source community.
I've written before about how most open-source licenses don't apply themselves well to the networked economy. Only the OSL, AGPL, and CPAL contemplate web-based services. It's not surprising that Facebook opted for one of these licenses, but I am surprised it chose the one least likely to lead to developers actually modifying the Facebook platform.
If the point was to protect the Facebook platform from competition (i.e., derivative works), Facebook chose a good license. If it was to encourage development, it chose the wrong license.
But if the purpose was to prevent modifications of the platform, why bother open sourcing it at all?
I've seen more than one person repeat the sentiment in the above article which leaves me completely perplexed. With fbOpen Facebook has allowed anyone who is interested to run Facebook applications and participate in what is currently the most popular & vibrant social network widget ecosystem in the world.
I can think of lots of good reasons for not wanting to adopt fbOpen. Maybe the code is in PHP and you are a Ruby On Rails shop. Or maybe it conflicts with your company's grand strategy of painting Facebook as the devil and you the heroes of openness (*cough* Google *cough*). However I can't see how requiring that you mention somewhere on your site that your social network's widget platform is powered by the Facebook developer platform is some sort of onerous POISON PILL which prevents you from using it. In the old days, companies used to charge you for the right to say your application is compatible with theirs, heck, Apple still does. So it seems pretty wacky for someone to call Facebook out for letting people use their code and encouraging them to use the Facebook brand in describing their product. Shoot!
The premise of the entire article is pretty ridiculous, it's like calling the BSD License a poison pill license because of the advertising clause. This isn't to say there aren't real issues with an advertising clause as pointed out in the GNU foundation's article The BSD License Problem. However as far as I'm aware, adopters of fbOpen don't have to worry about being obligated to display dozens powered by X messages because every bit of code they depend on requires that it is similarly advertised. So that argument is moot in this case.
Crazy article but I've come to expect that from Matt Asay's writing.
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