Livecode Licence Rules for dummies ....

[Richmond]

On 14/11/15 13:56, Francis Nugent Dixon wrote:
> Hi from Beautiful Brittany,

Bulgaria is really very beautiful just now with super, autumnal weather 
. . .

>
> I have a « Terms of Use » problem with LiveCode.

I wonder if my "lack of problems" is due to my terminal naivety or my 
basically criminal nature . . .

At the risk of putting my big, fat foot right in the manure, here goes.

>
> I bought into Livecode  several years ago, using it every day for my private use.
> I have stopped buying the new versions of LiveCode as they become available,
> because I am happy with 5.5, I can’t afford to upgrade, and I never wished to
> sell my apps !.
> I wrote a personal Family Tree program for free distribution to my family members.
> It can only be used by members of my family.
> I am now confused with the terms of sale of the various LiveCode licences.
> Life is becoming complicated.
>
> 1 - Am I allowed to GIVE, for no financial gain, my 5.5 developed Family Tree program,
> or any silly games I have created, to other members of the family or my friends ?

As far as I am aware you can do absolutely anything you like with a 
stand-alone program you
generate from any version of LiveCode that you legally own.

I, for the sake of argument, have been merrily selling, giving away and 
forcing on others, programs of all sorts
made using both commercial LiveCode 4.0 and 4.5 (which I own),

and giving away and forcing on others (but NOT selling), programs of all 
sorts
made using any community (open source) version you care to think of.

You can (so I understand) sell programs made using the community versions,
but you have to wrap the thing up with an Open Source license and also make
the original stacks available to any one who wants them.

> 2 - What can I do, and NOT do with my 5.5 liveCode ? What are the 5.5 licence rules ?

I think that you will find that you can deploy it on as many computers 
as you like on the understanding that ONLY YOU
are actually using your commercial version to develop things.

> 3 - My Son-in-Law works for a company who use a dictionary of terms used in the
> automobile industry, in four languages, which is impossible to learn. I wrote an application
> to make available the references of all of the terms in a rapid user-friendly display.
> Can I GIVE this application to my Son-in-Law  for his own personal use ?

Yup.
> 4 - If I want to make available a free version of this application to other members of the
> company where my son-in-law works, under what conditions may I do this ?

None as long as the stacks are password protected so that no-one can 
"suck out the juice".

> 5 - If I buy a business version of LiveCode and SELL the application to my sons company
> (because they will love it), what happens after the expiration of my licence.
> Can the company still use the application ?

Of course: that would be a load of cobblers if every time your developer 
license ran out
all your customers had to either stump up new money for you, or wait 
until you renewed
your developer license.

>
> Sorry to bother you with these questions, but even with my high IQ, I can’t understand your
> licence rules, especially as they have been much modified since I BOUGHT 5.5 quite some time ago.
> You may address any answers to my e-mail, but I honestly think that they will interest
> the LiveCode community.

I don't know how high your I.Q. is; but what I can tell you is that 
when, at 17 (this is, after all,
the sort of thing that teenage males tend to do to boost their fragile 
egos) I took an I.Q. test
I got the princely score of 142: since then I have been proven stupid so 
many times I've lost
count! As far as I can tell all that an I.Q. test result tells you is 
how good you are at taking I.Q. tests.

And the LiveCode licence rules do seem a bit hard to understand: I do 
hope they coincide
with my understanding of them as I have described here.

>
> Best Regards
>
> -Francis
>
>

However, I do heartily recommend that you DON'T take my word on this, 
and I hope that our combined "Noise" will
raise a definitive ruling from the mothership . . . Heather, would you 
care to let me ruin your weekend once again?

Wishing you sunny, douce weather where ever you are.

Richmond.