Sorry for the delay guys. Since their are a few e-mails I will try to respond to them in one response.
The reason for the rash response was not because of the question but more of who I felt the question was coming from. Bob Smith, if I am mistaken of your identity I sincerely apologize. I was a lover of the product before I started doing this position and I have seen for years on how this person has degraded the product for his own benefit. I let my passion for the product come before the position for the company and I hope no one takes it as a general "shut up", because it is not. Yury has built a strong product here and my actions aren't really representative of the company he has built. I have some learning to do. Now for the response. Our product is a wrapper around the TightVNC code. Before the ViewerX development had been started, we were aware about circumstances of using GPLed code. And since the intention was to build a commercial component, we decided to make it GPL savvy and build a wrapper. That is about the best I can give you. The difficulty we have answering these questions comes from how far we must answer them. Unfortunately a few people try to ask questions to reveal how our proprietary code works. So it is difficult for us to answer more than that. I hope this is satisfactory to what you are looking for. If you would like any more information please e-mail me or use one of our contacts at www.s-code.com Thank you, -- Adam Moore Public Relations Coordinator SmartCode Solutions, VNC Manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.s-code.com On Apr 3, 2005 6:15 PM, Tim Meador <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > * Mike Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2005-04-03 19:48]: > > On Sun, 3 Apr 2005, Brian K. White wrote: > > > > >Saying that they will only deal with realvnc and that they are not > > >obligated to honor the license of public code they are using until > > >realvnc approaches them or responds to their approaches is NOT > > >acceptable unless they are not in fact using anything that is gpl'd. If > > >they are using something that is gpl'd then it doesn't matter that the > > >original author organization (realvnc) happens to still be in existence, > > >the code being used is already gpl and is no longer owned by realvnc and > > >anyone using it is obligated to adhere to it's license simple as that. > > > > > > I have questions about how the GPL works. RealVNC has developed an > > Enterprise edition that is not being distributed under the GPL. I assume > > that the Enterprise edition contains GPL code from the old RealVNC. > > Correct. > > I also believe that this is OK because the RealVNC team owns the > > copyright on the GPL code and they are allowed to use it in non-GPL > > products. Am I right? > > No. No one can 'own' or copyright anything that's GPL'd. It's public > property. > > > is RealVNC not also allowed to let other > companies buy the right > > to use GPL'd code to create non-GPL software? > > Anyone can use GPL'd code to create non-GPL sotware. BUT...and I hope I > get this right... > > 1. If changes are made to the GPL'd code, it MUST be re-released back > into the pulic domain. It cannot be copyrighted, etc. > 2. Additions (as separate add-ons, not added-in changes to the GPL'd > code itself) do not have to be GPL'd, and can be copyrighted as > proprietry software. > > IOW, it's OK to include GPL code in proprietary products, but what > you're actually being charged for is the non-GPL part of the product, > because any modified GPL code has to be released to the public. > > > If so, then isn't it OK for a suspected GPL violator to ignore > > queries from anyone other than the copyright owner? > > No, because GPL code is publicly owned. > > Actually, I'd like to see an anwer to this myself. There was no > attempt to clarify the use of GPL code, just a friggin' "It ain't none > of your business, so shut up!" Well, it IS our business. The GPL > license and enforcement of it affects all of us, not just programmers. > > -- > Registered Linux user #266531 > _______________________________________________ > VNC-List mailing list > [email protected] > To remove yourself from the list visit: > http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list _______________________________________________ VNC-List mailing list [email protected] To remove yourself from the list visit: http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list
