"So if Apple hired Paul and I, nobody could enhance Dabo? That's absurd."
I understand that someone could, but would they? If the two lead developers walked away, would anyone be as passionate or involved enough to pick up the project? My opinion is that the answer is probably no. "Enterprise customers also get high-level support. In other words, they are paying for the support to make sure that all the latest and greatest stuff works. When that stuff is working consistently, it is migrated to the community edition." I understand this too. That wasn't my point. You SHOULD pay for support. My point was, if you're running an open source project, and previously accepted free code from the community, this seems like you're turning your back on them to start treating them like second class citizens. These are the same people who evangelized your software and got it into mainstream use to start with. I get it, perfectly legal. Not necessarily the thing that gives you warm fuzzies about open source, though. "Did you somehow interpret the word "freedom" as "guaranteed immediate updates and support for all eternity"?" No, but everyone brags about the community spirit of open source. Both of these moves are not community oriented. J On 7/18/07, Ed Leafe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Jul 18, 2007, at 2:02 PM, Justin Darnell wrote: > > > There are issues with GPL and Open Source too, though. > > Did anyone claim that they, or anything else, was perfect? > > > Look at mySQL. They've split their community and enterprise versions. > > They will not release free binaries anymore. The community editions, > > unlike Fedora, are actually updated LESS frequently than the > > enterprise version. This means that updates are actually being vetted > > by the Enterprise Customers instead of the non-paying customers. This > > is a bad idea. Its actually worse for paying and non-paying > > customers. > > Enterprise customers also get high-level support. In other words, > they are paying for the support to make sure that all the latest and > greatest stuff works. When that stuff is working consistently, it is > migrated to the community edition. > > > And look at CUPS. Since all contributors gave rights to their code to > > the corporation originally sponsoring it, Apple was able to swoop in > > and buy up the corporation and the code. The existing GPL code can, > > of course, be forked, but the primary developer is now an Apple > > employee, and they don't have to legally release any new code to the > > public, since they also own all the copyright. Who knows if they will > > or not. > > So if Apple hired Paul and I, nobody could enhance Dabo? That's > absurd. > > > I guess I feel to some extent that these are both bait and switch > > tactics....'free software...' > > "Free" refers to freedom. Anything released under the GPL or other > open source licenses is still free for you to develop and use as you > wish. > > Let's take your complaint about MySQL. They released several > versions under GPL. They later released other versions under > commercial licenses. Did that change anything that was released under > GPL? Not at all. You still have every right to use and modify that > code that you always did. > > Did you somehow interpret the word "freedom" as "guaranteed > immediate updates and support for all eternity"? > > -- Ed Leafe > -- http://leafe.com > -- http://dabodev.com > > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
