Any objection to the OFL?

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 6, 2007

Thank you, Bill and Steve, for this discussion. It was helpful for me  
too...it clarified some things...PNGs are considered a font..that is  
good to know!

So this is my decision...We will license the ISWA-PNGs under the OFL...

Many thanks for your help with this...;-)

And I am trying to work on the ISWA when I can...

It is very busy here and barely enough time to work on the symbols...;-)

I will be teaching a class on SignPuddle and SignBank, using Skype  
Video, this Friday to a group of several people...It will be an  
amazing experience I am sure!

Val ;-)

--------



On Jun 6, 2007, at 2:23 PM, Steve Slevinski wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> Sorry for the confusion of terms.  When I used the phrase "symbol  
> sets" I was referring to the specific PNG and SVG files.  I should  
> have used the term font.  I'd love to see additional styles for the  
> SignWriting symbols.  As long as the new font is a new creation, it  
> can be under whatever license their creator wishes.  If the new  
> font is a modification of an OFL font, it may only be released  
> under the OFL.
>
> It may be a little confusing to label a collection of PNGs as a  
> font.  However, 2 matters to consider.  First, we are using the  
> PNGs as a font.  Second, we are heading in the direction of a  
> proper font with Unicode support.
>
> When I was discussing the matter on the OFL list, this topic came  
> up.  We agreed that the PNGs can be considered a font.  There was  
> general support for a release under the OFL.  There was even talk  
> about an article on Linux.com about the news.
>
> Regards,
> -Steve
>
>
> Bill Reese wrote:
>> Steve,
>>
>> It's my understanding that fonts aren't the characters of an  
>> alphabet or script - they're stylistic representations of those  
>> characters.  It's conceivable that someone could create a font of  
>> SignWriting that gives it a specific style - such as "Arial" or  
>> "Times Romans".  There seems to be no question that anyone  
>> creating one should have the right to assign whatever license they  
>> want to that font - just as they do with other alphabets and  
>> scripts.  I believe the question then becomes, if the OFL is used  
>> to assign a license to the characters of an alphabet or script,  
>> regardless of style, would it then need to be assigned to all  
>> other alphabets or scripts, such as Latin, Cyrillic, Hiragana,  
>> Chinese, etc.?
>>
>> It would seem that SignWriting should be in the same class as  
>> those.  SignWriting is used to create written forms of established  
>> natural languages the same way Latin characters have been used to  
>> create written forms of other established natural languages in the  
>> last 70 years or so.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>> Steve Slevinski wrote:
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> We've been discussing licensing issues for SignWriting.  I think  
>>> the Open Font License is ideal for the SignWriting symbol sets.
>>>
>>> You can read the online version:
>>> http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php? 
>>> site_id=nrsi&item_id=OFL_web
>>>
>>> Under the OFL, I do not see any negatives and many positives.   
>>> This is not a major change compared to what we are doing right now.
>>> This licensing is important for widespread adoption in the free  
>>> and open source world as well as the proprietary, commercial world.
>>> You will be free to use the symbol sets for any type of writing.   
>>> You will be free to use the symbol set with software and include  
>>> the symbol set as part of the software.  You will be free to  
>>> modify the symbol set as long as you release the modified symbol  
>>> set under the OFL.  You can redistribute the symbol set almost  
>>> any way you want.  The main restriction is that you can't sell  
>>> the font by itself.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have  any concerns?  Please ask questions or read the  
>>> license itself.  It's about 1 page long and can be read in about  
>>> 5 minutes.
>>> http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php? 
>>> site_id=nrsi&item_id=OFL_web
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> -Steve
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>