On Thursday 12 May 2005 13:22, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > On Wednesday 11 May 2005 10:21, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >> I know few people that did not want to help a product that is not full
> >> open source. Maybe they are ok for the (gpl/BSD) drivers but not the
> >> hardware part.
> >>
> >> Timothy seems smart but what happen to the work of the communauty if
> >> there
> >> new compagny is bought ? GPL is supposed to prevent this kind of case
> >> (in
> >> the opposite of BSD).
> >>
> >> Look at compagny like MySQL labs and Trolltech, they sell a GPL software
> >> to people that want make proprietary stuff.
> >>
> >> OPG could do the same : produice pure GPL code, and sell the IP to the
> >> embedded people for people that did not want GPL code mixed with others.
> >
> > Doesn't work. If you're building an embedded system, you just put an OGP
> > chip
> > on it.
>
> Embedded system means most of the time a SoC or a big FPGA that could
> contain the IP of OGP. In that case, it's clear that you need a none GPL
> core if you want to put your own code without make it GPL.

Okay. I'm not a hardware engineer, so I hadn't considered an SoC, I was 
thinking about a circuit board with a Geode and an OGP. Thanks for clearing 
that up.

> > Doesn't matter if its RTL is GPLled, because the GPL doesn't
> > propagate
> > across chip boundaries. Using MySQL and QT requires _including_ their
> > code
>
> Non there is never such inclusion. Qt is a dynamic library. It's even
> morevspecial for Mysql because it's a server. There is "no linking" with
> mysql.

#include <mysql.h>
#include <qapplication.h>

I rest my case.

> But the GPL did not speak about liking but "derived forme of work". 
>
> So if you build something that _need_ mysql you must follow the rule of
> mysql.

I fail to see how program A is a derived work of program B if it connects to 
it. But maybe we should continue that particular discussion off-list if you 
want to, this one isn't about legal theories after all.

> > into your program rather than just communicating with it, so you can't
> > get around the GPL this way. The whole point of OGP is that you have a
> > clearly documented interface instead, so that _anyone_ can interface with
> > it. Imagine
> > an FTP server with such a licence model. GPLing it doesn't prevent anyone
> > from connecting to it with a proprietary client, because the FTP protocol
> > is clearly defined.
>
> Without saying it you point an other problem : the validity of licence on
> copyrighted material applied to an object. It's not clear how you could
> link an object with the licence of the material you use to build this
> object.

Well, wouldn't the object be a derived work, just like a poster replica of a 
painting is, and a copy of a book is a derived work from the (electronic) 
manuscript that the author handed over to the publisher, etc. IANAL, but I 
don't see all that much of a problem there.

> >> To even prevent copying, try to have a strong trademark, and defend it.
> >
> > So? Copy the thing, give it a different name. Trademarks only protect
> > words.
> > They protect your investment in marketing, in building brand recognition.
> > Not in coding.
>
> Sur but the point is to have enough money back. An other compagny will
> need more effort to convince the market. And very bad advertising could be
> done to this compagny (like for sigma design).

I'm not sure that that would be enough to convince any investors to fork over 
a couple of million dollars.

Lourens

Attachment: pgp3m1akXXs5Y.pgp
Description: PGP signature

_______________________________________________
Open-graphics mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics
List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)

Reply via email to