Re: open translations database

[Christian Rose <menthos menthos com>]

Stefan Rieken wrote:
> > Translation Memory
> > ------------------
> 
> The TM is the idea I had in mind, but then come true. It would just be
> great to have this running on e.g. linuxi18n.org.
> 
> You wonder about licensing terms. Maybe the community wouldn't even need
> an open source license, if they can just use it online.

I think licensing terms might still be an issue. GNOME is very much a
free software project, and much of the spirit of free software is
creating free software with free software tools. Almost all the common
GNOME development tools already used; Glade, compilers, DocBook and
gettext as well-known examples, are free software. As a matter of fact,
I can't think of a single commonly used tool in GNOME development that
isn't free software.

I think it would at least ease acceptance of a translation memory tool
if it was free software too. Producing better translations for the end
user is of course the ultimate goal, but making a project as GNOME
become very much dependant on a proprietary tool would still be a sad
thing, IMHO.

If Sun is indeed developing a new tool to help the GNOME project, they
also have the power to choose the license for this new tool. I think a
free software license (GPL/LGPL) that fits the GNOME project would be a
big plus in that case. Of course, this is my own opinion, I can't speak
for anyone else.


Christian



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Christian Rose
http://www.menthos.com                    	    menthos@menthos.com
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