Saturday, June 26, 2010

Re: [android-developers] Re: Avoiding GPL

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On 6/25/10 22:53 , Anton Persson wrote:
> Well, to connect to a MySQL database you need a connector, and the
> connector library shipped with MySQL is under GPL. Which is what I
> meant. And, hence, corporations buy licenses from MySQL to avoid
> having to release their applications under the GPL. (If you still
> don't believe me, try explaining the reason why they HAVE a dual
> license model... If they only wanted to sell support and
> indemnification, a separate paid-for license would NOT be needed...
> See Red Hat for an example of how that works..)

But I was referring to MySQL, not the connector. Also, sure there will
be also corporates who pay for not using the GPL, but my point was
that one is not forced to pay to use it. Now I think we are made clear
our points, and MySQL was only an example.

> And; the INTENT of MySQL is that if you use the GPL version of the
> MySQL database, your application should also be GPL. But, of
> course, there are loopholes. However, using these loopholes in a
> way that is obviously a "circumvention" is against this INTENT.
>
> If you want people to respect YOUR intellectual property, you
> should respect others as well, and not exploit their software in an
> unintended manner.

Licenses arbitrate how much land each entity has the right to own, in
other words they establish borders in a objective way that everybody
agrees on, not a subjective or moralistic one. So while I personally
might have some interest in what other people are willing to do
(subjective and moral position), not everybody is compelled to do
that, but only respect the law. Everybody uses licenses to try to
place that border in the most convenient possible way. An author of
FLOSS software tries to place the border in the best possible position
in his perspective, and a user of a FLOSS software has the same right,
in his perspective.

PS MySQL intent was to make money, and GPL is one of the best way to
do that, because of the double licensing thing. In fact, they made a
lot of money. Note that the owner of MySQL has changed many times and
the intents of the original founders, of Sun Microsystems and Oracle
"might" have been changed. Frankly, if I used MySQL I wouldn't be
interested in what their intents are, only in what I can do.


- --
Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect, Project Manager
Tidalwave s.a.s. - "We make Java work. Everywhere."
java.net/blog/fabriziogiudici - www.tidalwave.it/people
Fabrizio.Giudici@tidalwave.it
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