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Re: [LUG] GLUG - free and non-free



On Tuesday 12 October 2004 9:16 pm, Julian Hall wrote:
I am nowhere near as proficient as many of you seem to be in the detail
of the various licenses such as GPL etc so I will not make any sweeping
comments on a subject of which I know next to nothing.

However, I just realised in writing this email that the concept of
"shareware" has not been mentioned at all.  I'm going to assume here
that shareware is as well-known in Linux as in Windows so I won't insult
your intelligence by a long boring explaination of what it is.  I think
it could bridge the gap between proprietary software/open source/free
software.  My thinking is simply that the nature of shareware embraces
the community aspect in that "If you like the software you *voluntarily*
pay the developer a contribution",

The key difference with shareware was the LACK of source code. Shareware was 
99.9% binary only. This is a classic flaw in your logic - true, we can 
benefit from the binary but on GNU/Linux there is a problem:
We already know that any one binary will work only on certain distributions.
We also know that GNU/Linux works on more than one platform, ARM, PPC etc.
No one binary can work on ARM, x86 and PPC - it needs to be recompiled. 
Recompilation requires the source code.

So the shareware author would have to provide one binary for Debian, one for 
RH/Mandrake, one for SuSE, one for embedded Debian maybe, one for PPC, one 
for ARM maybe, one for RHES, one for . . . . .  it's getting unrealistic, 
isn't it!

IF he releases the source code, that source code needs a licence - shareware 
can't cover source code, it isn't a suitable protocol. The licence will have 
to be reliable and well tested, so basically he's offered an OSI or GNU 
approved licence. It becomes not shareware but open source or free software.

In essence, shareware doesn't exist on GNU/Linux because the operating system 
doesn't provide a common binary format. (Itself a reason why it's difficult 
to write a virus that will infect more than a sector of Linux boxes - you 
have to know the architecture and distribution beforehand).

and he may well reciprocate by 
agreeing to help you with technical support or something else, however
you don't *have to* pay.

Anyone can donate to almost any free software or open source project. Most 
project websites have some form of donation or contribution. If they don't 
themselves then they will inevitably rely on other projects like Gnome, KDE, 
Apache, SourceForge, Debian etc. that CAN accept donations.

Also whilst not *all* shareware has the same 
licenses, I see no reason why some could not have a GPL type license,

lack of source code - complete non-starter for GPL.

-- 

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.codehelp.co.uk/
http://www.dclug.org.uk/
http://www.isbn.org.uk/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/

http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3

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