Looks like we'll have to manage without the Falcon models ... for now:(.
- Matevz
--- Begin Message ---Hi Matevz, First let me thank you for your interest and kind words about the models I've worked on.While I find your group's objectives laudable, I do not feel comfortable at this time releasing the models to FlightGear. The thought of others possibly capitalizing on hours of my work does not sit well with me. I wish you and your group luck in your venture and hope to see FlightGear emerging as a standard to beat. -Robert --- Matevz ThePianoGuy Jekovec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Robert. > I am an active FlightGear simulator developer > (www.flightgear.org) and > a member of Falcon community. FlightGear has finally > come to the point > where it would need some exciting new 3D models, > especially aircrafts. > We are in desperate need of an F-16 fighter aircraft > model! Now, I've > seen some great work of yours done for Falcon and I > very appreciate > it. Really, that's a work of an artist! I've already > downloaded from > different sources (mostly F4LE at YahooGroups and > FrugalsWorld forums) > some of your official versions of F-16 model and I > am very anxious > about them. Unfortunately, 2 major problems have > occurred when trying > to combine these models with FlightGear: > 1) The file format. Right now, all your models I > have found so far are > in Falcon .lod format. We would need your models > exported to 3DS, DXF, > A3D, VRML or any other standard 3D file format. We > will take care of > importing from these file types to FlightGear then > as these files are > standards and are viewable on all platforms and > software (notice that > we mostly use non-Microsoft platforms) > > 2) The license. We have read your royal-free license > you have provided > beside your files and have found out that it is not > compatible with > our GNU/GPL license. The major parts differ in > paragraphs 3 and 4 > (pornographic use and reselling your work). GPL > doesn't mention > anything about pornographic use etc., so if anything > goes ever wrong > one day, this may be just a reason to top it all in > the end. However, > this is not much of the big issue I think, but we > should be aware of > it. The other part about reselling your work by 3rd > parties and > companies is more considerable. The problem is that > FlightGear is > mostly a standard part of RedHat, Mandrake, SuSE and > maybe some other > distributions of Linux we are not aware of. As you > probably know, some > versions of these distributions are not free of > charge, so by selling > it, the company sells your work as well. > Now, there are many possible solutions to these two > issues. We believe > that the easiest way would be to release a package > of your models (of > course, if you are willing to do so) licensed under > GPL, Public Domain > license, Mozilla Public License or even LesserGPL. > Now all these > licenses are compatible with GPL, but have their own > restrictions. > IMO, I would prefer you Public Domain license (I > licensed my J-22 Orao > model with it) or GPL. > If you decide for the first one, your model will be > freely distributed > by anyone, anyone will be able to make changes, > change the model's > license and even declare this model as his own and > anyone will have > permission to make money with your model. The good > part is that your > model will be no doubtly spreaded around the globe > very rapidly (in > other words, the mankind will be richer for an F16 > model:)). The bad > part is that someone can steal your model and do > whatever he wants > with it, as your work is not copyleft or > copyrighted. You could add a > line to your README that you at least wish to have a > credit if anyone > uses your work in any projects of his own (believe > me, you'll get > plenty of credits here at FlightGear:)), but that > isn't obliged to one > who uses it. To implement this license to your work, > you will have to > point your README file to the following url when > talking about the > license: > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#PublicDomainSoftware > > The other license - GPL is more restrictive in > certain ways. Firstly > your model must be open-sourced and licensed to free > (free in this > case, means that anyone have the access to your > source, but is not > necessarily free of charge), but this isn't > important much here as the > standard 3D file formats are more or less opened. > The other part of > the license is more important: anyone will be able > to freely > redistribute your work, make even money, and change > the model itself, > but not the license! In case he makes changes to the > model, his work > must be licensed under terms of GNU/GPL as well! > That means his model > still is free and all the changes he has made must > be available you to > take a look at and implement them to your model if > you'd ever wanted > so. This is useful as your model will live long and > will probably be > used by many 3rd parties and even companies and will > develop in any > worst case. On the other hand, any changes to the > model must be known > and available. That means companies like Microsoft, > EA, Infogrammes or > any other large and always-lawyer-full-of companies > don't stand a > chance in including your work in any of its own > products if the > product isn't licensed under terms of GPL or the > product hasn't your > work provided separately, including all your credits > (e.g. this way > Linux world will never be "bought" by Microsoft:)). > To implement this > license to your work, you will have to point to the > following url when > talking about the license in your README file or > download the license > by yourself and put it separately in file named > COPYING: > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt > > If you are willing to spread your models around the > simulations world, > please reply to this mail and tell us what you > think. In both cases, > know that your work on your F-16 models will never > be forgotten in our > point of views. > > > We appreciate your time for reading this mail and we > look forward to > hearing from you! > - Matevz "WhiteAngel" Jekovec > FlightGear.org (www.flightgear.org) > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
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