Mosfet wrote:
> ...
> Linux will remain free and open, and please don't tell me unsub scribe
> because I think your logic is flawed. A) I do not seem to be in the
> minority opinion, B) I want to see the best possible scenerio for Linux,
> and creating two versions of a free toolkit does not seem sound.
OK, I'll spell it out so you can understand:
1. KDE may become the defacto standard mainstream desktop for Linux.
2. If it does, commercial developers may feel that the only way to write
viable Linux software is to conform to KDE.
3. If they do and there is no Harmony, commercial developers will be
obligated to follow whatever constraints and terms TT chooses to put
in their commercial license, and pay whatever price TT chooses.
The logic here is clear and as easy as 1-2-3. I'm not saying it will
happen, I'm saying it's possible if we don't do something to make it
impossible. That's all.
FACT: TT is in the software business to make money.
FACT: If the above scenario comes to pass, TT stands to make a LOT of
money.
FACT: By not denying that they would sue the Harmony developers, they
implied that they might. They could have at least said "That's
not the way we do business." But they didn't.
FACT: TT did not release QT as Open Source back when doing that would
clearly have saved the Open Source community a lot of grief,
division, and embarrassment. They could have but they didn't.
OPINION: The last two facts clearly show that their profits are more
important to them than helping the Open Source community. I'm
not saying there's anything wrong with that. After all, they
are in the software business to make money.
It is clearly in TT's financial best interest that the above scenario come
to pass, especially if Linux becomes a mainstream OS. By choosing to
release QT as Open Source now that Harmony and GNOME are nearing completion,
it's possible that they hope to diffuse potential future threats to their
profits before they are completed. Or is the timing just a coincidence? TT
must have had some motivation for this license change and for profit
companies generally do not do things just to be nice. If that were the
case, they could have done that when it really would have mattered.
You're asking me to believe that somehow TT is overlooking its obligation to
its investors, owners, and employees just to do something nice. Bullshit.
There is the potential that they could all end up millionaires and you
expect me to believe that they are going to turn it down for a chance to be
benevolent contributors to the Free Software community? Yeah, right. I've
been working in the software and computer business for a long time and I can
tell you that when serious profits are concerned, ethics go right out the
window.
I may not be Eric Raymond or Bruce Parens, that doesn't mean that I have to
be a sheep, blindly following the rest of the flock.
I at least will concede the possibility that I may be wrong. You should go
back and read your messages. There is no room in your mind for the concept
that you may not know everything. Instead, you're trying to ram your
opinion down my throat because there's no way that you could be wrong!
Thanks for listening,
Carl Thompson
PS: This list is for the development of an LGPLed QT clone (hence the name).
You have already stated that you will no longer work to this end, so
you should leave the list instead of using it to distract those people
who use it or bash people who still believe in its purpose. Just
because you no longer want to help, don't make the list unusable for
those that do.
