Should Qsampler be dropped from Ubuntu archives?

[Luis de Bethencourt]

If you say it is so close to gpl... Why don't they license it gpl or
any other known license with a foundation behind?

When a linuxsampler developer gives me a valid purpose I will start
agreeing with them. Or they license it gpl or any other free license
for that matter, we will ship it by default.

For now, they have their own license, which is never cool. And that
license has ambiguos terms as you mention, that can be taken to be
very free or dictatorship. As a contributor to a distro that deploys
software to a _LOT_ of people. I can't take the risk of
misinterpreting a license, and breaking it, or even worse, making the
users break it.

Not talking about you, Yvan, but most end users don't care about
licenses. So we have to care for us and for them. Sadly enough, free
software development isn't excempt of a lot of legal issues (which are
boring and tedious).

Luis de Bethencourt

On Nov 28, 2007 2:32 PM, Yvan Vander Sanden <yvan at youngmusic.org> wrote:
> Luis de Bethencourt wrote:
> > let me quote the important bit...
> >
> > "USAGE of the souce code, libraries and applications FOR COMMERCIAL
> > HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS IS NOT ALLOWED"
> >
> > enfasis in: source code, libraries and applications
> >
> > this isn't limiting the use of the source in commercial apps like QT
> > does for example. It is limiting the applications too. Hence not only
> > linuxsampler (usage as application), but even qsampler (usage as
> > libraries) must be used with their consent everytime you boot.
> >
> > this is even more restrictive than some propietary software. I don't
> > see adobe photoshop asking for permission of use to avoid their
> > product used in "wrong images"
>
> I see what you mean. However, I think this all comes down to the fact
> that the linuxsampler people don't formulate very well what they really
> want. 3 words in their limitation are ambiguous:
>
> usage: Taken literally, this would mean that you cannot, for instance,
> make a commercial hardware sampler if the basic samples are made with
> linuxsampler. I think however that their intention is to prohibit the
> use of their source code in this hardware. Or in case of an application,
> that you cannot write a commercial GUI which is dependent on the
> linuxsampler library. This is no different from the gpl, except from the
> fact that the word commercial is confusing (see below)
>
> for: given the confusion caused by 'usage', this should better be
> replaced by 'in'.
>
> commercial: the gpl never uses the word commercial software, and for a
> good reason. A company could very well be able to release open-source or
> gpl-ed software. Most of them won't, but that does not make it
> impossible. IF a software company uses gpl software in their own
> software and release their product with a gpl-license, they will be able
> to do that. And they can still ask money for their software. The
> linux-sampler people appear not to allow that. But after reading the
> rest of the FAQ, i think they intend to restrict closed source software,
> not commercial software as such.
>
> If this is the case, their license is indeed more free than the standard
> gpl. I'll gladly make use of Luis' teenage allegory again:
>
> closed-source: Parents won't let the teenager go out with friends, ever.
>
> gpl: Parents will let the teenager go out, but only if the friends can
> be trusted (open source programs). Other people (closed source programs)
> will not  be allowed to take the teenager with them.
>
> linuxsampler: Parents will let the teenager go out, if the friends can
> be trusted (open source programs). Other people (closed source programs)
> may be able to take the teenager out, but this will have to be discussed
> first, and only possible with the parents' explicit permission.
>
> (it's very tempting to write an example here about public domain, with
> lots of child abuse and such. But i will restrain from that because it's
> not really to the point.)
>
> Regards,
>
> yvan
>
>
>
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-- 
Luis de Bethencourt Guimerá
luisbg
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