[OT] New pricing (GPL issues)

[Kay C Lan]

Mark,

Thank you for your insight. Yes, I think the Android case is very
interesting and is why I think pulling VLC from the Apple Store is just
shooting oneself in the foot. If you want to evangelise OSS why have it
pulled and force people back to commercial alternatives?

I think many here have expressed the view that one of the reasons LC has
not caught on like HC was because HC came bundled free (initially) with
every Mac; something Runrev could never do. LC Community is certainly a
HUGE step in the right direction. I certainly hope they don't take the view
of certain VLC contributors. If it were me, I'd post a simple policy
qualifier stating that if you wish to use LC Community to create iOS apps
distributed via the App Store, then you must have a web page with: a) a
link to your source stack, and b) an acknowledgement that you app was
created the LC Community and c) a link to the LC Community download page.


On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 4:07 AM, Mark Wilcox <m_p_wilcox at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
>
> OK, second post in a row - really sorry for forgetting to delete the whole
> digest from the end of the last one before I hit send.  Promise not to do
> it again. :)
>
> Apple don't have an explicit policy against the GPL or any other open
> source license as far as I'm aware.  I am not an IP lawyer but I did work
> for an open source software foundation for a couple of years, so I've spent
> quite a while reading/thinking about these issues.
>
> If someone complains you're violating their copyright (or breaking the
> terms of their copyright license) to Apple, your app is likely to get taken
> down, whether you're using open source or not.  This is what has happened
> to apps using GPL code that have been taken down so far.
>
> If you build an app against the open source version of LiveCode and
> release the source under a GPL compatible license (doesn't have to be GPL
> and indeed probably better to go with something more permissive if you
> intend it to be free and open for everyone) then the only issue you should
> face with submitting to the app store is if RunRev complain to Apple, since
> they are the copyright holder and thus the only ones with a valid complaint
> (FSF can whinge all they like about the platform being incompatible with
> their license, their copyright has not been infringed).  FWIW the GPLv2 is
> being blatantly disregarded ALL the time in (almost?) all Android devices
> and many other embedded Linux platforms.  The Linux kernel developers just
> prefer that their work is used and people don't make commercial forks
> rather than making all the hardware vendors out there follow the letter of
> the GPL (which they aren't prepared to do in most cases).
>
> If RunRev are OK with any kind of non-comercial usage (they should be,
> it'd save them the hassle of coming up with a solution for free educational
> software and student projects) then they should add a clause to this effect
> to their version of the GPL, just so everyone, including potential
> contributors to LiveCode, is clear.  If they're not then as long as you use
> a permissive GPL compatible license for your open source project then
> anyone with a commercial license can build and submit it for you - I expect
> there's be volunteers for serious projects trying to produce quality
> free/open software.
>
> There's really no way to comply fully with the GPL and release viable
> commercial software anyway.  If you release the full source code to your
> app under a GPL compatible license and try to sell it there is nothing to
> stop someone else building it and selling a version for less or giving it
> away for free (this is why the GPL's free as in speech must almost always
> mean free as in beer too in an age of ubiquitous internet access for
> distribution).
>
> Hope that helps rather than confuses.  Happy to answer other questions in
> this area to the best of my ability.
>
> Mark
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