On Wednesday 31 December 2008 11:30, Ravindra Jaju wrote:
On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 11:15 AM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
There was specific piece of misinformation on their licence page, which in effect stated that you cant use gpl software commercially. I pointed out to them twice that this was plain wrong. It was not corrected even a year later. So the company insists on being dishonest.
Interesting. Can you please spell out a few details on this one? I'm interested in knowing.
The licences page stated in effect that you could not use gpl software for commercial purposes. i do not remember the exact words but had mailed them at the time with details of why they were wrong and a possible template for that page. there was no correction a year later at which point i maiied them again. The details should be in the list archives, where i had posted exact words from trolltech's page, when there was a big flame war on the list on the subject. The present pages are only slightly different, adding the term properitory and again clubbing proprietory and commercial and hence inferring that gpl software cannot be commercial. This ploy is only slightly less worse than pure fud.
"For the sake of avoiding complexity, we mainly use the term "commercial" in the following. The commercial license allows you to:
* Develop commercial software and software whose source code you wish to keep private. "
Again the clubbing of commercial and prop, and creating complexity instead of avoiding it. BTW even gpl software is properitory - someone owns the copyright - PhilipTellis had corrected us on this point.
That line should read: * Develop software whose source code you wish to keep private.
It does not matter wether it is commercial or not, because i cannot use a gpl package to distribute non-commercial binaries.
However they try to straighten out things after tying them selves in a knot: "Based on the "Quid Pro Quo" principle, if you wish to derive a commercial advantage by not releasing your application under an open source license, you must purchase an appropriate number of commercial licenses from Qt Software. By purchasing commercial licenses, you are no longer obliged to publish your source code.