On 2004.12.19 16:12 Steven Critchfield wrote:
I also despise those who wish to compete with Digium with exactly the same hardware Digium sells
Well, not only is it legally within the bounds of the GPL licensing on the Zapata hardware, but I honestly expect that this kind of competition is what the original designers wanted to occur by placing such a license upon those designs, affecting derivative works.
Competition is good for the community. And, until the market becomes saturated, I think that competition will only lead to increased exposure for Asterisk. With increased exposure all companies and individuals involved with Asterisk only stand to gain - both monetarily and technologically.
and advertising based on the popularity of asterisk.
I don't understand how this is a bad thing. Not only are companies like Digium and Atacomm profiting from the equity in Asterisk and the exposure that it has, but countless numbers of us "community people" profit from it as consultants, service providers, and such. That's what the licensing does for all of us, not just a priviledged few.
But as part of the line you trimmed, if someone improves or significantly change the hardware, it shows that the company/person is more than just a leach.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on this. All users and companies involved with Asterisk should contribute back into Asterisk - whether that be through bug reporting, code developing, advertising, testing, purchasing hardware and or developments, etc. They should do this not only because it is good for the community, but because as I've indicated above, it is good for themselves.
That said, I think that the design of the GPL is such that it prevents people from being leaches. So as long as the alleged abusers are not violating the terms of the license, I think it's a stretch for them to be considered leaches.
Lee. _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
