FreeTDS Development Group

[Jon Pounder <pounder AT inline.net>]

Yeah, I read the licence agreement and also did not download it for the
same reasons, I agree with all the points you guys have raised.

So, I am calling for someone from Sybase to explain themselves - was this
some underhanded trick to trap the project proponents into a non-disclosure
and non-source agreement and effectively kill the project ?

These days it is almost silly to even include such clauses in something - I
could get a hotmail account, download that spec from a public library
somewhere, and no one could ever tie that download back to me or the
freetds project, and that would effectively bypass the agreement entirely.

At 10:57 PM 9/14/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>> The license that you must accept to get the spec does not seem to be
>> compatible with source-code distribution.
>
>My "take" on the license (which I read and subsequently did not download
>the TDS spec because of the NDA and such -- I don't like NDA's hanging
>over me <grin>) is that it was probably designed to prevent Sybase's
>competitors from benefitting from the TDS spec release.  But, I'm not
>a lawyer so I don't know either.  My hope, though, is that there will
>be a way for Sybase to release the spec such that it can be used by
>FreeTDS freely and still be very positive for Sybase with regard to
>its business model.
>
>I was originally under the impression from earlier postings from Sybase
>that 1) the spec would be made available early on under an NDA until
>the license kinks could get worked out, and then 2) later on for 
>"public release".  So, is this the "early release" or the intended 
>final "public release"?
>
>Here's the snippet that gave me that impression:
>
>    "We can provide you (FreeTDS) with an early version of the TDS spec, if
>     you (Brian?) are willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.  While it
>     is written in intimidating legalese, the essence of it is to ask you
>     to keep the information to yourself until a public announcement can
>     be made."
>
>I'm not a programmer on this project, but have tested the JDBC driver 
>and am curiously watching :)
>
>Greg.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Greg.Beeley AT LightSys.org        LightSys - Redeeming Technology...
>http://www.LightSys.org                    For God's Kingdom.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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        Jon Pounder,   Development Engineer
        Inline Internet Systems
        pounder AT inline.net Jon AT Pounder.com

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