Licenses etc. (was: Re: [antlr-interest] Re: Antlr Studio iscool.)

[Nigel Sheridan-Smith]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: antlr-interest-bounces at antlr.org [mailto:antlr-interest-
> bounces at antlr.org] On Behalf Of Anthony Youngman
> Sent: Thursday, 22 September 2005 6:47 PM
> To: Kay Roepke; Jose San Leandro
> Cc: antlr-interest at antlr.org
> Subject: RE: Licenses etc. (was: Re: [antlr-interest] Re: Antlr Studio
> iscool.)
> 
> What the GPL does (and is intended to do) is stop *you* selling *my*
> work (and cutting me out of the loop).
> 

Actually, my understanding was that the GPL allowed anyone to sell the
software at cost, but prevented derivative code from being redistributed
under any license except the GPL. You are free to modify the code for your
own purposes, but you cannot redistribute it to anyone else (at profit, or
at no cost) unless you can provide them the source code for the
modifications upon request. This guarantees the "freedom" of all of the
users, who will always have access to the source code for the original
product, and all derivative products that are redistributed.

As for whether AntlrStudio should be commercial, open-source, etc: I had an
inkling that it might have been targeted as commercial software as Prashant
never made a statement about the license either way. Given that videos were
used to promote the product (rather than an alpha- or beta-release, like
many open-source products) suggested to me that it probably wasn't going to
be open-source, unless Prashant was holding out until a full version was
completed. It doesn't disturb me at all about they way this was approached,
although it might have helped to know upfront what his intentions were.

If it performs a useful function at a low cost, then some people will
undoubtedly see value in purchasing it. Specialistic software usually sells
for a lot more money (but perhaps, also does a lot more at the same time).

Nigel

--
Nigel Sheridan-Smith
PhD research student

Faculty of Engineering
University of Technology, Sydney
Phone: 02 9514 7946
Fax: 02 9514 2435