wxPython Licence vs GPL

[Mike Meyer]

"Martin P. Hellwig" <mhellwig at xs4all.nl> writes:
>> "Martin P. Hellwig" <mhellwig at xs4all.nl> writes:
>>> If the non-techie is still interested, I'll rave on about that I
>>> understand why GPL is a good way to ensure availability of IP
>>> especially if the software is a collaborated effort in the academic
>>> scene.
>> Your comment about the GPL "ensuring availability" would imply that
>> other-licensed software has a tendency to become unavailable. Do you
>> know of any examples of such?
> Yes, it happens on a regular bases that *BSD's are ported to a
> particular platform or devices and that the necessary changes to make
> it work that way are not released back (eg Ironport mail
> systems). Other examples are extensions of other software to fill a
> particular need that are kept close for a binary only sale (eg Mammoth
> PostgreSQL + Replication).

Is that software really unavailable, or just unavailable for free? If
the latter, then it's not unavailabe. If the former, the it didn't
become unavailable, as it was never available in the first place.
In the latter case, you could also use those examples to similarly
"prove" that non-GPL'ed software is a "good way to ensure the
availability of IP", as the developers of those IPs obviously felt
that the ability to restrict distribution in some way was needed to
make the effort of developing and distributing the software in the
first place worthwhile.

        <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.