Open source, closed source, and the value of code

[Richard Gaskin]

Robert Man wrote:
 > == And lastly, the kafkaesque position vis a vis the use of both
 > tools for the same code. In  practice, can I code part of an
 > application in the community and part of it in the closed IDE.

The GPL is a distribution license; it doesn't affect anything you do in 
your home or office, and only comes into play when software is distributed.

In fact, one of the nice features of the GPL is that it very explicitly 
states that if you share software under that license you can't restrict 
the use of the software in any way.  This freedom is often 
under-appreciated but very powerful, as it prevents any form of 
discrimination and allows everyone to study and learn from code, and to 
modify it for themselves however they like.

So here we're only looking at cases where you distribute something to 
others.

And since the application needs an engine to bind to in order to run, 
the license of the engine used at build time would determine the license 
options.

Kevin's said here before that you can freely use the Community Edition 
to develop in, and would only truly need to acquire a license for the 
proprietary engine when you're ready to deploy the app and wish to do so 
under a license other than GPL.

For other questions the FAQ has some good info - see "Can you give me 
some examples of where I do and don’t need a commercial license?"
<https://livecode.com/resources/support/ask-a-question/>


 > If not, please do precise if there are markers somewhere that
 > are used to track the IDE used.

Markers are for enforcement, and enforcement is only needed when there 
is circumvention.

I have no interest in circumventing the intentions of the copyright 
owner of LiveCode, so it's never occurred to me to look for markers.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com