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Some Rights Reserved

The events of the last few weeks (people selling the free cheat sheets from this site) got me thinking about this site, and the way in which content on it can be used. I, like (I imagine) many publishers, face a bit of a dilemma when it comes to licensing content for other people to make use of.

There are some things I mind, and some things I don't. It's difficult sometimes to think clearly about other people using content - when it's my own work being used, I am prone to let emotions affect my judgement.

Ultimately, I'd like to stop people selling my work, but make it easy for people like Brian Warren, Kim Evgeniy, Diego Eis and Dapuzz, among others, to produce their own work based upon mine (the people I just mentioned are among those who have created dashboard widgets, and translated the cheat sheets and articles).

After some deliberation, I have decided to change the copyright on this site. I am releasing all content under a Creative Commons License. This license allows people to use the content I've created for non-commercial purposes (anyone wanting to use it for commercial purposes, please e-mail me), as long as they give appropriate credit and release derivative works under an identical license.

I think where I have gone wrong in the past is I've looked at these issues on this site from my own perspective. What I should have done is look at things from the perspective of those who actually use and read the site - those people (yourself included, of course!) are the reason this site is here.

It is entirely possible that this decision may backfire. There is an argument that releasing work under a CC license potentially encourages others to use content but ignore the terms of the license. That said, if it encourages more positive uses of the content, then it's the right decision.