Clause in the Valentina License

[Luis]

That's the reason why I went for PostrgreSQL for Mac: http:// 
www.postgresqlformac.com/

OpenBase Solo (their free version, 5 user methinks) was extremely  
tempting, but I had already started on PostgreSQL: www.openbase.com

Cheers,

Luis.



On 5 May 2007, at 20:31, Peter Alcibiades wrote:

> Years ago at a now forgotten company a whimsical older manager was  
> starting up
> a first class on databases.  What, he asked, is the most important  
> thing to
> consider when inputting data into an application?
>
> We young fellows stumbled around for a while, as you can imagine.   
> Finally he
> delivered himself of his accumulated wisdom, which has remained  
> with me ever
> since.  "Never key any information into an application without  
> knowing how
> you are going to get it out".
>
>
> If what the clause is saying is, you the developer may not use the  
> embedded
> kit to create and sell a database engine + ide, a product in  
> itself,  that
> competes with Valentina, that seems entirely reasonable.  It is  
> exactly the
> problem Rev might have had if there were a cut down version of  
> Studio, and a
> cheap or free player - effectively, you'd be letting loose a more  
> or less
> equivalent version of the product for very little or no revenue.   
> No one
> could reasonably demand that you do that.   And given a choice, is  
> the world
> better off with cheap versions, or with none (which in the end is the
> consequence of your being unable to restrict use in this way) most  
> of us
> would say, better the cheap version with some restrictions.
>
> But if what is being said is that once an end user has put his  
> stuff in, you
> the developer may not use the kit to extract that data in a form  
> which he can
> use in some other competing database, well, no thanks.  We need to  
> get our
> priorities straight:  its his data.  Don't tell him what to do with  
> it.
>
> I was alerted to this by an organization who had keyed in several  
> person-years
> work of their own intellectual property into a database with no export
> provisions.  When they wanted to get it out, the reply was, good  
> luck writing
> your own programs, or pay us generously to do it.  Whose intellectual
> property was it?   We had no doubt, but there seemed to be some  
> confusion in
> the mind of the application supplier.
>
> Post sale restrictions on use, in the EU, are unrelated to  
> copyright.  You
> cannot make derivative works, which are typically copyright  
> violations,
> without approval of the holder.  That is quite different from post  
> sales
> restrictions on use, which attempt to prevent you from using the  
> purchased
> property in certain ways which are legally unobjectionable.
>
> The reason why I cannot put images derived from the DVD on a T  
> shirt without
> permission is copyright.  The reason why Sony cannot forbid me from  
> using the
> player in any way I want after I've bought it, is that post sale  
> restrictions
> on use are unenforceable in the EU.  But this does not mean I can  
> use it to
> violate copyright.  That's an independent matter.
>
> Take a tool - a plane or chisel for example.  A supplier cannot  
> make two
> versions, a professional one and a DIY one, and solely by  
> conditions on
> purchase, forbid professional carpenters from using the DIY one for  
> purposes
> of trade.  Once people have bought things you can't tell them how  
> to use
> them.  You can void their warranty.  You can exempt yourself from  
> damages due
> to injury.  But you can't stop them.  I have often wondered  
> doubtrfully
> whether, when Filemaker sells an academic version of Filemaker  
> Advanced in
> the EU, and forbids the  buyer to sell works made with it, that  
> would hold up
> in court if challenged by some enterprising university or charity.   
> It would
> perhaps be wise of both supplier and buyer not to insist on finding  
> out.
>
>
> Peter
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