Big development in the GUI realm

[Robert Kern]

Grant Edwards wrote:

> Sorry if I was a bit blunt, but I'm sick of people trying to
> weasle their way around a license by creative interpretation of
> the license terms when the licensors made their intentions as
> clear as possible.

Believe me, I share your frustration every time this issue comes up. 
However, I think it's best to follow Robert Heinlein's maxim:

  "Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity."

And I think we can also replace the word "stupidity" with "ignorance" if 
you like.

It seems to me that "Luke" is confused and ignorant. He has shown no 
indication that he intends to write proprietary software using Qt.

In any case, he may be right, and the FSF, Trolltech, and you could all 
be wrong. Your intention when you use the GPL may be moot if a judge 
determines that the text itself and copyright law does not support your 
interpretation.

I think that it is almost always best to obey the intentions of the 
copyright holder and to ask for clarification when it is unclear. On the 
other hand, if the copyright holder is *clearly* off-base with his 
interpretation (and to me this would require actual case law, not just 
the opinion of a lawyer), then I might consider disregarding the 
author's interpretation and going with what case law and my lawyer 
suggests. I don't believe that this situation holds with respect to this 
issue, of course.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter