[CS-FSLUG] Is Mac OS X "Closed" or "Open" Source

[Timothy R. Butler]

>> The core (Darwin) is under a OSI *and* FSF approved license (ASPL 
>> 2.0).
>> The top (Quartz) is proprietary. Various parts like Safari's HTML
>> engine (KHTML) and Rendezvous networking are Free Software, however.
>> It's very much a hybrid system.
>>
>>         -Tim
>>
>
>
> Thanks for clearing that up.  No wonder I felt confused.  Now I know!
> It could very well pass for a number of GNU/Linux distros.


	Glad to. It very well could pass for a GNU/Linux distribution in many 
ways. In fact, Free Software supporters would probably find more to 
like about Apple's policies toward the community than those of Xandros 
or Linspire, for instance.

	Obviously, all three are releasing their product under a standard 
EULA, but Apple has clearly out donated the other two in code given 
back to the community. Ironically, thanks to the ASPL licensed core, it 
is probably safe to say that Apple is now the largest Free Software 
distributor around.

	You can find out more about Apple's Free Software at 
http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/ . Of particular interest to 
the non-Mac community, I think, are Rendezvous and Darwin Streaming 
Server (a.k.a. QuickTime Streaming Server in its proprietary form). The 
latter is the easiest streaming media server to configure that I've 
ever used, and its all ASPL licensed.

	-Tim

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