MORE and Source Code Copyrights

Submitted by Morbus Iff on Fri, 2002-09-20 17:51

From Dave Winer comes some comments about MORE, an old outliner that he helped developed (which last saw work back in 1991), and Lawrence Lessig's comments on software copyright that inspired them:

My proposal has two parts that it helps to keep separate. One is that the terms for software should be much shorter than they are today: 10 years rather than 95 years (for software written by an author but for a company). The other part is that the source code for that software be kept in escrow, so that when the copyright expires, the source code becomes free (as in both free beer and Free the Mouse!). Both parts, imho, would benefit the "small and independent developers."

I've never used MORE myself, but I'm a hearty fan of OmniOutliner for OS X. How does MORE compare to the outliner in Radio Userland? How do they all compare to OmniOutliner? (And yes, I know Dave originally posted those comments on August 29th. I'm woefully behind. Damn you, Game Studies, damn you!)