Mozilla has received widespread criticism from within the open-source community for bundling a EULA with official binary builds of Firefox 3. Critics argue that including a conventional user license agreement in Firefox is antithetical to the principles of unencumbered use that are cherished in the open-source software community.

Firefox, what's not to love about this open-source web browser? Well, a number of users following the development work on Ubuntu 8.10 (the Intrepid Ibex) are feeling rather outraged over Mozilla Firefox 3.0.2 and later. In the latest Ubuntu packages, Firefox requires an EULA (End-User License Agreement) be accepted the first time you launch the browser.

Grumpy Ubuntu users are snarling about Mozilla including a largely open-source irrelevant EULA (End-user license agreement) with the latest version of the Firefox Web browser. Indeed, one user went so far as to file an Ubuntu bug report about the EULA.

In the past few days we have seen a debate explode over the inclusion of a EULA in the version of Firefox to be included in future Ubuntu releases. Some argue that Ubuntu should just leave the EULA in, while others argue that something like IceWeasel, an unbranded version of Firefox, should be included.

Mitchell Baker has posted on her blog a notice that Mozilla will let us know today what solution they've come up with for the Firefox EULA dispute:Firefox without EULAs.

As I reported yesterday, Mozilla has admitted that the Firefox EULA was flawed.

After taking criticism from Linux vendors, Mozilla is now going to redo its end user license agreement and make it more friendly for open source.

Here's a screenshot of the latest language from Mozilla, and as you'll see, they absolutely have listened to the community's EULA concerns (if you click on the image, it gets larger).

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. Richard Dooling grants you the following rights provided that you comply with all terms and conditions of this EULA: