Hi Tim, Thanks for the insight. I'm not planning on making money from turning an open source library to closed source, but I don't want to be under the obligation to open source software because I included a library in it. I really wonder how that works, because for example joomla is under GPL v2, so if I create a website based on joomla, modify some parts of joomla, do I have to open source it?
But I guess I can keep my mind open on open source business models. Daniel. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tim Schofield Sent: 31 August 2011 03:22 PM To: Uganda Linux User Group Subject: Re: [LUG] Licences On 31 August 2011 09:48, Okalany Daniel <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All, > > There are many open source licences, I cant even start to list them, > and I doubt they are all similar/the same, otherwise they wouldnt be so many. > > > > So my question is, if software is licenced under the GNU Lesser GPL > (I read that), but didnt seem to answer my questions, so I looked it > up and found > http://www.opensource.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1 > > And I still dont quite understand it. > > > > So if I download software licenced under the GNU Lesser GPL, can i: > - Change it, and not open source the changes > > - Distribute/Sell the changed software without releasing the source > code (Credits stay in the source code) > > - At which point do I fully own the changed software, e.g after > modifying 60% of the source code/never > > > > If I cant do the above, which licences would allow me to do so? > > PS: The most easily understandable licence I found was: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTFPL > > > > Regards, > > Daniel. > Hi Daniel, You can use any software that is released under a permissive license: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_free_software_licence However I would say, as an accountant and a business man who has sat on the board of the many companies over the years, that turning open source software into proprietary software is bad business practice. That is unless you have the marketing budget of Apple inc. and you don't. If you are planning on trying to make money from your software then you are much better keeping it open. I remember reading a quote (I can't seem to lay my hands on it now) by Bob Young (one of the founders of Red Hat a billion dollar a year Free software company) that when he first read the GPL, where others saw socialism he saw a great business model. There is an interesting paper from him here: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno= 3336451.0004.304 Making money from Free software just requires you throw away the usual preconceptions of business, and use your imagination instead. Thanks Tim -- WebERP Africa Ltd +447710427049 +256752963327 +255758554413 www.weberpafrica.com _______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
