right now, icecondor's software, client and server, are in a kind of limbo because no license is specified in the source code. I need to pick a license and ask the two contributors to allow their commits to be converted along with the rest of the source, to the new license. I also make a distinction between the server source code and a running instance of the server which provides a web service. The question is, which one? To find out, I'm writing some use cases. The data itself also needs some sort of license.

The Client

The client is what runs on the device. Its 99% of the brains of the system. The device may be an Android phone, an iPhone, or javascript running in a full-strength browser on a desktop, a netbook, or a MID. It knows various identified characteristics of the user such as OpenID URL and GnuPG encryption key. It reads from the various radios on the phone to determine location and communicates with the storage service.

The Server

The web interface to the more heavy-lifting tasks and analysis. Also an alternate interface for user's management tasks. Also durable URLs to frequently asked questions such as what is user X's last known location.

The Server Service

An API or web service to do pretty much the same thing as the web site. a RESTful access method blurs the distinction between web site and web service since a browser is making API calls like any application would. note to self: look at the API specific bits that drove the new piece of GPLv3.

The Storage Service

The couchdb software is already open source. The API for this service may not need its own licence.

The Data

The data in the database should be as free as possible. A creative commons license such as used for popular public databases is appealing. If someone marks their updates as available to all, then this license will be in effect if stored on the server that I run. Each server administrator can come up with their own approach for data stored there.

(unfinished)