[PyQt] LGPL license.

[Rajeev J Sebastian]

On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 4:43 AM, Jim Bublitz <jbublitz at nwinternet.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday 10 February 2009 14:41:02 pm Knapp wrote:
>> > Oh, btw what implications it has for your application/development
>> > to use Qt or PyQt licensed under GPL or LGPL or commercial is
>> > something you should discuss with a lawyer.
>> >
>> > Andreas
>>
>> Yes, all is clear now, thanks.
>>
>> This bit about the lawyer always strikes me as funny. I am looking at
>> releasing a product that will be sold in the USA, Canada, England,
>> Australia and many other English speaking places. It will also be
>> sold in other countries as the translators get things done, perhaps
>> Germany first. The product is expected to cost 20 to 50 USD and sell
>> a few thousand units per county, if it goes well. So how much does
>> this lawyer that knows all about these licenses and there effects in
>> all those counties cost? Where do you find him?
>
> Considering you're going to generate huge profits from this product, it
> wouldn't hurt to ask the author of a fundamental component of the
> product how much a commercial license would cost and pay for it, and
> then you wouldn't have to worry about GPL, LGPL or any of that stuff.
>
> I've never minded people using my software for free - even commercially.
> I just hate it when they whine about software being free, but not on
> terms where they can profit enormously from other people's work. It's
> the whining, not the profiting, that I object to.

How about when people (who do not code, and have not coded in their
entire life) also demand that your work be made "free" (as in "free
speech") so that they can profit enormously from it ? That also
strikes me as being cruel.

I realise the legal requirements of making software using GPL'ed
libraries and you dont have to repeat the various arguments such as
"feel free not to use GPLed stuff"; I just wanted to "whine" about the
existence of this "corrollary" which is all too true and exists in
this world (especially here in India).

GPL seems to be going after some kind of theory of "software freedom",
but at the same time does not protect the creators of software from
people who "profit" from it in a legally permissible way, but which is
still financially, emotionally and ethically "wrong".

Regards
Rajeev J Sebastian