Yep, to both the other interpretations and the matter being that simple. The difference isn't the selling. It's the fact that the person selling the open-source [GPL specifically] does not release their installation package/GUI under GPL. The GPL is a social contract, and they are not entering into the contract correctly.
The BSD world don't enforce this social contract. [I'd have to see exact examples to give a 'I am not a lawyer' opinion. It's probably obvious that I'm not an ardent GPL fan, believing it should only be used on GUI programs. ] Hen On Tue, 4 May 2004, Bill Holt wrote: > Henry, > > I don't question your interpretation of the contracts, but suspect that > there are other interpretations I wouldn't question either. ;) > > My point was that if the reseller is adding value to an open source item by > creating the installation package, or in whatever way, then I don't see > where it's wrong for them to charge for the value they've actually created. > Of course, it _would_ be wrong for them to foist off appropriate support > onto people who did not participate in the profit, but that's a different > issue ... a matter of stealing. Once the lawyerly stuff is put aside, isn't > the matter that simple? > > Bill > > > From: Henri Yandell <bayard at generationjava.com> > > Reply-To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu > > Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 13:06:35 -0400 (EDT) > > To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu > > Subject: Re: MacGroup: Processor temp and cron job - can't finds > > > > > > > > On Tue, 4 May 2004, Bill Holt wrote: > > > >> Thanks Jerry, > >> > >> I don't understand why anyone would object to these people selling a > >> compiled, easy-install version of an OS program. > > > > [a kind of round about answer to why people would object, with hopefully > > lots of explaining for anyone else listening] > > > > The GPL exists to stop companies making money from open-source without it > > helping the open-source world out. Basically if you 'distribute' a change > > to a GPL program, you have to GPL your code. > > > > LGPL exists to allow people to 'distribute' code that does not change or > > add to an LGPL program but merely reuses it in its intended form. LGPL is > > a bit frowned on my the GPL creators nowadays and really exists as a > > marketing scheme to make it easier for GPL code to conquer areas dominated > > by proprietary programs. LGPL's wording is a bit too close to the C > > computer language and so can get quite technical to decide if you're > > obeying it. > > > > The other side of the dice in the open source world is the BSD type of > > licence. This is more open and basically just says that if you do > > something with our code, make sure you mention we did it and don't try to > > sell it off as our code or somehow supported by us. OS X sits on top of > > a FreeBSD-clone and uses this licence. Microsofts TCP program was also a > > clone of a BSD-licenced program at one point. The Apache web server is > > probably the most well known of the BSD licenced things. > > > > So the general gist in open source is that it's fine to resell the code I > > wrote as long as you mention that I was involved and don't make any > > promises on my behalf. The GPL addition is that if you change my code and > > let people use it, I have full rights to it and can add it to my code. > > > > The legal question in this case is whether wrapping a command line tool in > > a GUI is a change to my code. If the download contained my code, then the > > answer is usually yes and the GPL applies. > > > > Hen > > > > > > > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > > | be May 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > > | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> > > | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> > > > > > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > | be May 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> > | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be May 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
