Re: License wars

["Phil Frisbie, Jr." <phil@hawksoft.com>]

Hugues Talbot wrote:
> Dear Alexander,

I need to add my $.02 worth of opinion here.

> The LGPL's intention is to let people use Free software into
> proprietary code as long as they go through some slightly annoying
> hoops, while ensuring that the Free software itself remains Free. I
> think this is what we want (in broad terms).

This is EXACTLY why I chose the LGPL for my free open source code libraries. For
example, my own HawkVoice library, which provides speech compression to games
and other applications, is being used in TeamSound, which is used in Sony
Entertainment's PlanetSide. The credits are here:
http://planetside.station.sony.com/howto/manual_detail.jsp?id=55531 , just
scroll down to the TeamSound logo and read the LGPL required note.

> Now I've scanned through the CPL and it does not seem to protect the
> Free software in any way that is clearly spelled.  The LGPL says that
> if you modify the original Free software then your modification must
> also be Free. The CPL does not spell what a derivative work is. Is 
> it anyone's guess ? do you have to be a copyright laywer to have some
> opinion on this?
> 
> You may not agree with the LGPL definition of a derivative work but at
> least it's there.

I have used several free libraries in the past and have always been grateful
enough to pass on enhancements back into the libraries.

Of course, as the copyright holder of my libraries I reserve the right to
license my libraries other ways, even closed source if I choose, but that is
another topic altogether.

-- 
Phil Frisbie, Jr.
Hawk Software
http://www.hawksoft.com