Regarding "Creative Commons" And Scripts And Programs Posted On This Site

In response to the unprecedented number of email's we've received regarding this blog's content, we decided to devote an entire post to answer the most common question regarding the Creative Commons licensing used on this site. Here comes the well intentioned explanation ;)

Any, and every, single script posted on this blog is meant to be useful for Linux and Unix users and administrators.

With regards to the Creative Commons licensing used, we are merely (as openly as possible) attempting to maintain and protect some intellectual property rights over the (sometimes small) fruits of our labor.

The licensing is in no way meant to discourage your use of these scripts. You may modify them to suit your needs as necessary (In fact, you probably have to most of the time, right? ;)

The non-commercial aspect of the license refers only to marketing/sales of these scripts. If you find something you like here, modify it and sell it as your own (For Profit sales. Not to be confused with pitching), you would be in violation of the license. If you find something you like here, modify it and use it to make your work life at a commercial corporation easier, that is perfectly okay and we're glad we could help you out.

Once you've modified the script for yourself, or the business at which you work, if your employer attempts to claim it as their intellectual property the water gets rocky, but you still don't have anything to worry about.

Creative Commons licensing works on good faith (with some solid legal backing), just like Gnu Public Licensing does. If big corporations get involved and try to steal profit from folks like us (and you) by hijacking an idea and re-branding it, the license provides us all some measure of protection.

In summary, feel free to modify and distribute the scripts you find on this site. All the license asks is that you include proper attribution to the script writer(s), share it with the same license and not use it for profit.

Under our interpretation of this license, non-commercial is equivalent to non-profit. These scripts are all meant for use, and we suspect that a lot of that use would be on the computers of commercial corporations. You (and your employer) may make use of them (and modify them) for free, as long as the very generous attribution portion of the license is honored and they are not used for profit (unless you want to share the profit with us. Then we'll be happy to work something out ;)

Our hope is that this middle-ground of licensing (one of the main reasons we support Creative Commons) will protect us all from the businessmen who have demonstrated a history of illegally and/or unethically profiting from the work, and inspiration, of others.

If you have any other questions regarding the licensing of scripts on this site, or any doubts or questions, please direct email to: eggi@comcast.net. He'll be happy to read however many thousands of emails you want to write him on the subject ;)

Please visit the Creative Commons official site for more detailed information on the legal specifics regarding their outstanding work.

Keep on creatively solving your world's problems and/or kicking its butt :)

Best wishes to you all,

, Mike

linux unix internet technology