[ubuntu-za] Ubuntu and Mozilla, the inevitable alliance

[Lee Sharp]

Jonathan Carter (highvoltage) wrote:
> Hi Charl
> 
> On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 2:43 PM, Charl Wentzel
> <charl.wentzel at vodamail.co.za> wrote:
>> 1. Licenced open source.  Use of the software and code is restricted to
>> those who buy it from you.  Once they've bought it from you they can
>> modify the code, but customers seldom do as they generally don't have
>> the inhouse skills.
> 
> You can't actually do that, by definition, if it's open source you
> have to make it available free of charge, otherwise it's simply not
> open source.

Not true.  Most open source licenses only say you have to provide the 
source, and you can even charge a reasonable fee to do so.  Now this is 
not a very effective way to get a lot of developers involved in a 
project, but it can be done.  The fact that it is not done often is a 
testament to how poorly it works.

			Lee