Emiliano Heyns wrote:
On 3/14/07, *Ted Thibodeau Jr* <tthibod...@openlinksw.com
<mailto:tthibod...@openlinksw.com>> wrote:
Hi, Emile --
This is a common misconception. Something being under GPL does not
necessarily mean there are no costs or charges associated with its
deployment or use.
The following comes from the GPL itself (Version 2, the only version
which applies to Virtuoso) --
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom,
not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make
sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free
software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you
receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you
can change the software or use pieces of it in new free
programs; and that you know you can do these things.
[...]
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification
are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope.
These other activities include using Virtuoso as an Application
Server, Database Server, or otherwise; and such use is subject to
further licensure terms. One element of those terms is that when
you use Virtuoso in a commercial enterprise, you must purchase the
appropriate commercial license.
OK, clear. The reason I thought the earlier case applied to Virtuoso
was because
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowRequireFee
says "The GPL is a free software license, and therefore it permits
people to use and even redistribute the software without being
required to pay anyone a fee for doing so."
I also saw no preamble for licensing conditions in addition to the GPL
when I downloaded Virtuoso, nor when I looked ate the LICENSE and
COPYING file that were included.
Anyhow, as I think I mentioned earlier, it's obviously your product so
you are free to state any terms that you feel are fair to you.
Regards.
Emiliano
Emiliano,
The GPL is sbout Free Distribution and propagation of these rights (the
"Speech" component). Thus, you can propagate Virtuoso's GPL edition as
long as each destination preserves the inherent distribution freedoms
that include source.
Bottom line, any application built atop Virtuoso's GPL edition will need
to expose it source code too. If this is done then everyone is treated
fairly. On the other hand if someone builds a hosed app. where there is
no access to the source code then the freedoms from Virtuoso are no
longer available to others.
I hope this clears matters?
BTW - I would be very much welcome your potential participation in this
project :-)
--
Regards,
Kingsley Idehen Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
President & CEO
OpenLink Software Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
