On Feb 24, 2006, at 12:41 PM, Paul Mason wrote:
The Thermo-Calc engine, TQ-Interface (library, dll etc) and the
commercial databases are protected by copyright and are license
controlled using the Flexlm license management system. So any user
that wished to use Thermo-Calc or TQ etc in this manner would need a
license for the software. But over and above this, anything that an
individual user codes up, or anything that NIST provides in terms of
an additional interface/library that interacts with TQ would not be
something that is copyrighted or licensed by us.
I may need a better understanding of exactly what is being suggested
here, but my initial reaction is that a ThermoPy type interface which
made calls to TQ (and just saved a Fi-Py user from having to code it
all up themselves) could be open source. It just wouldn't be able to
interact directly with Thermo-Calc without the user having a license
for Thermo-Calc or the TQ-Interface.
With regard to databases (thermodynamic and kinetic), the TQ-Interface
allows Thermo-Calc users to interact with proprietary/commercial
databases and for a user to access these databases, they would need
the appropriate license. However, the Thermo-Calc database structure
is basically an open format and there are data available (e.g. at NIST
- Ursula Kattner/Carrie Campbell) which can be accessed without the
need for a database license and can be freely distributed. This just
depends on what people want to do. In other words, I am saying that
the Thermo-Calc database structure is like an open platform and hence
data that is not subject to copyright can be exchanged openly between
groups (but licensees of copyrighted databases are not allowed to
simply write out the data and share that) - if I need to clarify this,
please let me know and I will do so.
This all sounds reasonable. I only posed the question because software
licenses, when read literally, don't tend to be reasonable.
It sounds like we and you have the same idea about the interface in
question. Just to be clear, we're not (at least I am not) proposing to
make Thermo-Calc-proprietary data accessible to anybody that isn't
already entitled to see it. E.g., we're not suggesting a public website
that would serve up TC phase diagrams or anything. This is just about
making Thermo-Calc and related tools easily usable for, e.g. input to
phase field simulations, run by people who already hold the appropriate
licenses. Whether they use it as input to FiPy or to their own codes or
whatever is irrelevant.
I hope this helps move the discussions forward.
It does, indeed.
In summary, let us know what we can do to help and we would be
interested in participating in a Workshop if this goes ahead.
That sounds great. We'll keep you informed.
