Re: Equalis Octave group

[Judd Storrs]

On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 3:35 AM, Dave Barnes <address@hidden> wrote:
> I expect getting an extended description out to the community will
> help to determine if Equalis is of interest. I originally was focused
> on determining what features would be useful, but we've gotten into a
> more fundamental discussion on practicality and legitimacy. Best we
> address that first.

Ah, I see. So, do you work for Equalis? From an octave point of view,
I think the mindshare competition for Equalis is going to be the
Mathworks File Exchange. We have discussed (and Jordi has been working
on) a site for users to share and comment files. I can't remember if
those discussions have been on maintainers@ or on address@hidden I think what
is liked about the file exchange is that it allows users to find,
distribute, post and discuss smaller packages. What is controversial
is the Mathwork's insistence on BSD licensing for all user submissions
(i.e. GPL and other free licenses are not welcome). What is also good
about File Exchange is it's openness. It requires accounts to upload
and comment, but not to browse and download. Equalis could conceivably
be larger than just octave and include GPL matlab works that have been
cast into the wilderness by the recent license change.


--judd