Hi Travis,
Here are my two cents on this. I certainly agree that one should give credit
where credit is due, but what I don't agree with as a whole on the open
source market is how a lot of libraries force you to put in a lot of legal
mumbo jumbo in your documentation rather than just an acknowledgement and a
link to their website etc. The lgpl is a great example, there you have to
include a long section on how they don't accept warranty etc. On top of
this, since I am making an engine, the use of many libraries would force my
end users to include the same legal garbage in the game that they make with
my engine. I'm not having that, so I have intentionally chosen libraries
that don't require you to put credits in the documentation which means that
I am free to lay them out in a way that suits the format of my application
and also to not force my users to include anything to do with my internal
libraries in their game manuals. The bottom line is, I don't mind giving
credit but I won't use libraries that strictly enforce this.
Kind regards,
Philip Bennefall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis Siegel" <tsie...@lothlorien.nfbcal.org>
To: <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Engines was Heli
Except that opensource software is supposed to be recognized as such by
folks who use it.
Too often, I've found programs that use opensource software, then ignore the
license requirements
which state that they should, can, or must mention in their docs that they
are using said piece of software in their programs.
I've also seen blatent commercial rip-offs of opensource products that are
obviously nothing more than the opensource program repackaged, and
distributed as their own product, when this is clearly not the case.
That kind of exploitation is illegal, but bringing anyone to task for such
things is rough, and
expensive, and usually doesn't happen, and the exploiters know this, which
is why they do it.
For example, nvda is free and opensource, I saw a company (3 or 4 years ago)
selling a screen reader of their own, which was clearly nvda, but they had
renamed it, and charged $250 for it.
That is the kind of thing that is not allowed with opensource products.
Most opensource products (especially libraries)
request that you mention them in your program documentation, but some of
them don't require this, simply ask that it be done, but don't demand it.
My own opinion, is that if someone is using a product, especially if it was
something they're using for profit,
the least they can do is acknowledge where said shortcuts came from, which
is generally accepted as good and honest practice in the opensource
community.
It's mind boggling how many times I see programs using opensource
components, and there's no mention of such anywhere in the program docs.
Open source is free as in free to use, not free as in free to steal and make
your own.
Too many commercial entities forget this point, and just rip off opensource
to line their own pockets, and that's really a shame.
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