Next LUG meet: 9 Nov 2003 around 4 pm - VJTI -------------------------------------------- On Sat, Nov 01, 2003 at 10:24:39AM +0530, supreet wrote:
> And issue with QT library is TrollTech has dual licensed it. One is GPL > and other is proprietary license. > > In case you are making a open source app, its quite OK to write it in > QT. But proprietary app developers would be required to buy QT > commercially licensed product from TrollTech. I guess the reason why this becomes a problem is that Qt is under the GPL instead of the LGPL, right? So if I develop a wrapper around Qt, and LGPL it, then people using my wrapper are free to develop proprietary applications, right? By proprietary, I assume we mean software that is possibly closed source, with restrictions on use, modification and redistribution. BTW, bad phrasing from the Trolltech site: "Software developed with the Qt Free Editions may be freely copied and distributed, put on FTP sites and CD-ROMs, etc. This is entirely different from software developed with Qt Commercial Editions, which is governed by the laws protecting intellectual property." The part "... gorverned by the laws protecting intellectual property." clearly shows the kind of confusion that people have about IP and the GPL. The FSF has reiterated time and again that the GPL does _not_ go against or out of IP laws, but instead stays within the framework, and uses copyright to ensure freedom of the software. Is Trolltech actually trying to say that software that can be "freely copied and distributed, put on FTP sites and CD-ROMs, etc." is not governed by the laws protecting intellectual property? Sameer. -- Research Scholar, KReSIT, IIT Bombay http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/~sameerds/ -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
