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Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ...

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On 6/2/2011 1:22 PM, Arved Sandstrom wrote:
> On 11-06-02 08:34 AM, Paul Cager wrote:
>> On Jun 2, 11:42 am, Lawrence D'Oliveiro<l...@geek-
>> central.gen.new_zealand>  wrote:
>>> In message
>>> <9b584a36-f160-4e01-8e2f-ca3f83f17...@x10g2000yqj.googlegroups.com>, Paul
>>>
>>> Cager wrote:
>>>> It looks to be the standard 3-clause BSD license to me - that's a good
>>>> thing, isn't it?
>>>
>>> It would if the code were worth copyrighting.
>>
>> You seem to misunderstand the difference between copyright and a
>> license.
>
> Who's talking about a license? Oracle is attempting to copyright that
> HelloWorld code. Strictly speaking they didn't even have to include that
> "Copyright (c) 1995, 2008, Oracle..." bit, but since they did their
> intentions are very clear. They also refer to themselves as the
> copyright holder a little bit further down the blurb.
>
> Everything about that boilerplate has to do with copyright.
>

but, it is worth noting a few things:
the text appears to be a fairly standard 3-clause BSD-style license;
it is generally considered to be proper withing FOSS circles to put such 
a notice in *every* source file, such that it remains clear at all 
points how the code in question is licensed.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_license

note the section on the "New BSD License", which as may be noted, has 
very similar text and style (about the only differences I see is that 
Oracle inserted its name in the appropriate spots, labeled "<copyright 
holder>" in the aforementioned license).



generally, an absence of such a notice is (implicitly) meant to imply 
that it owned by the original owner, with all rights reserved except 
under the permission of the original author, until 80 years following 
said author's death (under which point it goes into public domain).

putting such a notice in a file thus states that a person is free to use 
said "hello world" program under the stated terms (which include copying 
and the creation of derivative works, ...). or effectively that the 
original author is waiving some of their legal rights.


yes, one can argue that it is a little silly to bother with this for a 
"hello world" program, but there is no obvious malice or ill-intention 
on Oracle's part for having done so.

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And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-02 15:12 +1200
  Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Paul Cager <paul.cager@googlemail.com> - 2011-06-02 02:11 -0700
    Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-02 22:42 +1200
      Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Paul Cager <paul.cager@googlemail.com> - 2011-06-02 04:34 -0700
        Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 00:08 +1200
          Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Paul Cager <paul.cager@googlemail.com> - 2011-06-02 06:20 -0700
            Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 15:10 +1200
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-02 21:47 -0700
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 17:05 +1200
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Joshua Cranmer <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2011-06-03 02:50 -0400
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 19:49 +1200
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Joshua Cranmer <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2011-06-03 11:16 -0400
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-04 12:28 +1200
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Joshua Cranmer <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2011-06-04 02:54 -0400
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-05 11:05 +1200
        Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-06-02 17:22 -0300
          Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-02 14:21 -0700
            Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-06-02 19:19 -0300
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-02 15:42 -0700
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-06-02 20:14 -0300
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 17:07 +1200
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-03 01:01 -0700
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-02 15:56 -0700
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Joshua Cranmer <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2011-06-02 22:21 -0400
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-02 21:36 -0700
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 19:48 +1200
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... rossum <rossum48@coldmail.com> - 2011-06-03 00:33 +0100
            Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 17:06 +1200
          Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Paul Cager <paul.cager@googlemail.com> - 2011-06-02 17:50 -0700
            Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-03 15:10 +1200
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Daniele Futtorovic <da.futt.news@laposte-dot-net.invalid> - 2011-06-03 18:15 +0200
            Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-06-03 06:56 -0300
              Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Paul Cager <paul.cager@googlemail.com> - 2011-06-03 04:21 -0700
                Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> - 2011-06-04 12:26 +1200
    Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered “Hello World” Program ... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-02 03:53 -0700
  Re: And The Award For Most Legally-Encumbered ?Hello World? Program ... Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> - 2011-06-02 11:00 -0700

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