Open source, closed source, and the value of code

[Mark Wilcox]

> • What can we/or can't we do with the Open Source version
> • Where does the commercial version step in
> 
> So far, the Q/A on live code site that give examples only deals with the
> CODE and not the content.

The GPL requires that if you distribute your work, you distribute with
it everything needed to make it work under a license compatible with the
GPL. You also have to be able to modify the code and still have a
working version.

It is possible to ship a GPL program with proprietary assets, as long as
they are not essential to its function. Something some games have done
is ship a GPL version with a single working level and assets for other
levels remain proprietary. This is usually where someone has cloned a
game using the original assets - they say if you own the original you
can use theirs with the official assets. This is clearly not in the
spirit of the GPL but that kind of workaround does happen.

Designs can be registered but they are not subject to copyright law in
the same way as text/code is almost globally, so the GPL cannot really
say anything definitive about those. IANAL but I suggest you'd have a
hard time prosecuting someone for using your design if you'd released
open source code that implemented it. There is a similar debate about
patents... and much discussion on that in the open source community.

-- 
  Mark Wilcox
  mark at sorcery-ltd.co.uk