1T3xt, A few comments about your reply:
> You are talking about creating a fork. > The reason why iText moved from MPL/LGPL was because the company supporting the project, writing documentation, stimulating development could no longer afford the effort: there had to be revenue or the project would die. I completely understand the reasons, the context and the decisions you mentioned, I'm not even questioning that. We all have to find a way to pay our bills somehow ;) What you want to do, is to revive the dead. That's not very wise, and tricky legally (because you don't own the IP). Actually, what I am proposing, is not "revive the dead", instead, maybe it could be understood as "extending the life" or... "give a new life". Whether it is wise or not, I believe that it is up to the community (or the people who eventually decide to support this fork) to decide. However, I see that the real question is: whether it is wise or not, stupid or not, is it legal to continue the development of version v2.x, keeping the same license, even though you guys hold the IP? Based on the license, I don't see any problem with that, however I think your knowledge about the question is much wider than mine. Also: the price of a license is ridiculously low (as opposed to what some people/competitors have insinuated), so it's probably cheaper to buy a license than to put manpower into a fork (and all the misery that comes with it). I also understand that.... my company is currently evaluating this option (it is very likely we'll decide to buy the license...) Read: http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5045 It's not about the price, it's about the quality. Again, I agree with you, however my actual question is not about that. Who is going to write a book about the fork? The community, as many many other open source projects. > Who is going to take responsibility when something goes wrong? Probably.... no one.... as many many other open source projects. That's a risk that comes with the decision of using open source projects without payed support. No, no, no, this is about much more than just "would it be legal?" It would be stupid to create a fork, very, very stupid. Again, whether it is wise or not, I believe that it is not up to you. I'm not even saying I'll be doing this, I'm just trying to understand the context. The same way no one is questioning your decision to change the license, maybe you should not question other's decisions and reasons. Personally, I see a great value for the Java community, for many reasons, maybe others think the same way. Regards, 2010/9/22 1T3XT info <[email protected]> > On 22/09/2010 19:46, Ricardo Andre Redder Junior wrote: > >> would it be OK for the community to continue the >> development of this version? I mean, would there be any legal issue >> continuing the development of this version, keeping the same license? >> For instance, submitting patches, adding features, etc., independently >> of version 5. >> > > You are talking about creating a fork. > > The reason why iText moved from MPL/LGPL was because the company > supporting the project, writing documentation, stimulating development > could no longer afford the effort: there had to be revenue or the > project would die. > > What you want to do, is to revive the dead. > That's not very wise, and tricky legally (because you don't own the IP). > > Also: the price of a license is ridiculously low > (as opposed to what some people/competitors have insinuated), > so it's probably cheaper to buy a license than to put manpower > into a fork (and all the misery that comes with it). > > Read: > http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5045 > It's not about the price, it's about the quality. > Who is going to write a book about the fork? > Who is going to take responsibility when something goes wrong? > > No, no, no, this is about much more than just "would it be legal?" > It would be stupid to create a fork, very, very stupid. > -- *Ricardo A. Redder Jr.* Product Engineering Spring Wireless Office: +55 (11) 3076-8342 Fax: +55 (11) 3472-7001 Mobile: +55 (11) 9883-1318 E-mail: *[email protected]* Skype: *ricardo.redder* Site: www.springwireless.com *[image: SpringWireless_Color_wHorizontalTag_firma]* ***Disclaimer***: http://pt.springwireless.com/Legal.htm * **Antes de imprimir, pense em sua responsabilidade com o meio ambiente.*
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