[Opensim-dev] Thoughts....

[The Burnman]

On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 5:09 AM, Michael Wright <michaelwri22 at yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

> Maybe in the future, opensim might include some DRM system as a option
> people can use, or extend. But that is a long way off, we need to get the
> base done first.


I think this stage is exactly where you should be considering the most basic
concept of IP Rights protection.  I am not talking about installing a BMG
style DRM utility which actively attempts to thwart the attempts of
thieves.  After my discussion with Charles the other day, a compromise of
offering the option to allow assets to be downloaded to the client for local
storage or not seemed rather reasonable.  This would allow both sides of the
argument greater control over their grids.  But moving to far in one
direction will only make it that much more difficult to explore other
avenues down the road.  Implement local asset storage without any other
consideration now, and the rest of the development will end up being based
on that concept.  The wheel would have to be reinvented.


> I'm sure someone will mis-understand this and take it as me saying that
> opensim doesn't care about IP protection, but that is not what I'm saying.
> I'm saying its outside the scope of opensim. Opensim is not a grid, its not
> any single installed instance of opensim. Opensim is purely a software
> platform. That overs take and make it do what they want it to do.


I disagree wholeheartedly.  I believe that considerations for IP Rights are
essential if OpenSim is attempting to set a standard for the metaverse.
While all of the hard work that has gone into OpenSim is truly impressive
and deserves much praise, at the end of the day, the content which will end
up going into the grids will be the focus of most of the users.

The cold hard truth is that the end-user looks at the web pages, not the web
browser or the server the page is hosted on.

I can see that some who have expressed their opinions here will not change
their minds, and I certainly don't believe my own position will change much
either, so this may be a futile discussion.  It will be interesting to see
what else comes up down the road which offers more to the content creator
than "you should give your hard work to society...  uh... because we want
it".

Please forgive my frustration, but I think the open-source mentality goes
too far sometimes.
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