building a GUI

[David Boddie]

On Mon Sep 24 00:08:09 CEST 2007, stef mientki wrote:
> Phil Thompson wrote:
> > On Sunday 23 September 2007, stef mientki wrote:
> 
> >> Could well be,
> >> but I never looked at PyQt seriously,
> >> because of their weird license.
> >
> > It's not weird. It's either GPL or proprietary. Your choice. That's as 
> > complicated as it gets.
>
> This is what I find "weird":
> == quote ==
> Trolltech's commercial license terms do not allow you to start 
> developing proprietary software using the Open Source edition.
> == end quote ==

Well, if you know you're going to be developing proprietary software, what
on earth are you doing with the Open Source edition?

OK, perhaps by asking that rhetorical question I'm simplifying people's
reasons and motives for using Open Source (and in this case Free/Libre)
software to develop tools or solutions that they later want to release as
closed, proprietary products. There are lots of ways people can end up in
that position, of course. Some people find their way there by accident;
others know what the situation is going to be well in advance...

In any case, I think it's useful to be clear about what each license does
or does not allow, especially if this leads to people making informed
decisions well before they learn about the consequences. In this case, the
terms of the commercial license place certain demands on the licensee, just
as with many other commercial licenses.

If someone develops a product using a GPL-licensed library, they can always
release that product under the GPL, even if that's not what they had in
mind when they started. ;-)

David