On Wednesday 11 May 2005 10:21, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I know few people that did not want to help a product that is not full
> open source. Maybe they are ok for the (gpl/BSD) drivers but not the
> hardware part.
>
> Timothy seems smart but what happen to the work of the communauty if there
> new compagny is bought ? GPL is supposed to prevent this kind of case (in
> the opposite of BSD).
>
> Look at compagny like MySQL labs and Trolltech, they sell a GPL software
> to people that want make proprietary stuff.
>
> OPG could do the same : produice pure GPL code, and sell the IP to the
> embedded people for people that did not want GPL code mixed with others.

Doesn't work. If you're building an embedded system, you just put an OGP chip 
on it. Doesn't matter if its RTL is GPLled, because the GPL doesn't propagate 
across chip boundaries. Using MySQL and QT requires _including_ their code 
into your program rather than just communicating with it, so you can't get 
around the GPL this way. The whole point of OGP is that you have a clearly 
documented interface instead, so that _anyone_ can interface with it. Imagine 
an FTP server with such a licence model. GPLing it doesn't prevent anyone 
from connecting to it with a proprietary client, because the FTP protocol is 
clearly defined.

And who do you buy that chip for your embedded system from? The seller with 
the best offer. Who's that? Well, anyone _but_ Timothy and co, because _they_ 
still have to get back their initial investment.

> If the pure retail market is too small, i don't think you could be copied
> easly. Then if you're in success, you will have few month advance for a
> new product.
>
> To even prevent copying, try to have a strong trademark, and defend it.

So? Copy the thing, give it a different name. Trademarks only protect words. 
They protect your investment in marketing, in building brand recognition. Not 
in coding.

Lourens

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