[linux-audio-user] License free Linux ??

[Anahata]

On Sat, Dec 06, 2003 at 08:26:22PM +0900, Patrick Shirkey wrote:

> My beef is that he outright lies about his commitment to the audacity 
> team. He says he has the consent and that he is contributing back.

He has implicit consent because the GPL allows him to do what he's
doing. I don't see why charging a "fee for the physical act
of transferring a copy" (GPL) shouldn't include an element of profit.

As for contributing back, if he says he is doing so, I agree that some
semantic acrobatics might be required to justify this ;-)

If the developers want some financial support, they should (as has been
suggested elsewhere in this thread) offer the software for sale in a
similar way. Most GNU projects that are available for Windows
would sell, for reasons that have already been discussed. Linux versions
wouldn't do so well because the marketplace is both smaller and smarter,
but again lots of Linux users (including myself) have paid for CDs of
software for good reasons so there'd be some business there too. Perhaps
sourceforge should set up a CD distribution sideline. The fact that it's
possible to get it free won't stop some people paying for it.

http://www.linuxemporium.co.uk started as a service for the convenience of
the UK Linux community, charging only to cover its costs, but became a full 
time business.

-- 
Anahata
anahata at treewind.co.uk -+- http://www.treewind.co.uk
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