VLC and GPL and LC on iOS (was: Re: MergEXT now included with Indy/Business IDE)

[Richard Gaskin]

Kay C Lan wrote:

> On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 11:57 PM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
>>
>> There are many open source licenses.
>
>...just because a system succeeds doesn't mean it can't be made better.

Of course.  Ours is an imperfect world.  No single license can serve all 
goals, and all systems can always be improved.

My only point was that the GPL seems a reasonably good fit for LiveCode 
Ltd's goals with its Community Edition.


> You offered the success of Linux as proof of the pudding as to how
> great GPL is but you failed to mention that the Linux Kernel is
> forever held to GPL v 2:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel#GPL_version_3

Yes, Linux uses GPL.

I don't see where my not noting which specific version of the GPL the 
project uses is necessarily a "failure".  I'm just a developer; my job 
does not involve either managing the Linux project nor advocating any 
specific licenses for others to use. I merely share the opinion of 
LiveCode Ltd's counsel that the GPL is a good fit for their goals at 
this time.


As a very separate side matter unrelated to what I wrote, the 
differences between GPL v2 and v3 are indeed interesting, esp. in our 
modern world of rampant software patent abuse.

One of the reasons GPL v2 is especially useful for Linux is that GPL v3 
includes limitations on patent claims, while Linux has been spared from 
being abused by patent trolls by using the more patent-neutral language 
of GPL v2 to build a massive pool of defensive patents - anyone who 
might consider suing Linux over a patent will likely be counter-sued 
into oblivion:
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/2654277/applications/consortium-launches-linux-patent-pool.html>

Quite clever of them, though I prefer New Zealand's solution as even 
simpler:  as a general rule their courts don't normally hear cases for 
software patents at all.

But we digress....


> Nor did you indicate that the majority of GPL software is still GPL v
> 2 or that the percentage of OSS using GPL is on the decline:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Adoption

What I wrote was:

    While the GPL and its derivatives are the most popular, there's
    also the Apache License, Mozilla License, Python's and PHP's
    unique licenses, and many others.

Providing a breakdown of specific versions and variants (LGPL, AGPL, 
etc.) and timeline trends for each is simply beyond the scope of my 
interest.  Besides, too many of my posts are already too long; it hardly 
seems useful for anyone if I were to err on the side of completeness. ;)

If you have feel GPL v2 is a better fit for LiveCode's goals than GPL v3 
I suppose you could email Kevin with the business case for that.

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