This is obviously big news.
Staying totally calm.... although I was one of those who supported the "losing side" of the licensing discussion, I don't see the connection between the two. None of the gnu licences should prevent a port onto a "closed" operating system such as SMSQ/E. After all, much gnu software (e.g., c and Fortran compilers, gimp) have been ported to Windows. As far as I can see, provided it isn't sold as part of SMSQ/E, or built into a paid product, the licence is not contravened. So let him port the routines, but let them not be sold as part of SMSQ/E or built into it. In my opinion, only if SMSQ/E needed his routines to do the job for which it is sold, would the licence be contravened.
Jeremy
gwicks wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm Cadman"
Big knip:
Is Phoebus just teasing us when he mentions a dedicated browser for QDOS/SMSQ ?
No he is not. Peter Graf has achieved a text only browser and email access using QDOS Classic on a Q60. I have seen some screenshots, but am not allowed to publish these. I have been sitting on this information for some time, because I was hoping to persuade Peter to demonstrate at QL2004. However he tells me he is on holiday on the day.
Peter would like to try an implementation on Minerva and even SMSQ-E, but as far as the latter is concerned you know what is coming next. He has achieved his results by porting routines from other systems and in his opinion this would not be possible under the present SMSQ-E licensing.
That, of course, is the second reason I have kept quiet about this development. The last thing we want is another major and unproductive row over the licence. So please can we all remain calm and put our energies into thinking how we can try to resolve our differences with the Unix/Linux specialists, many of whom think as Peter does, whilst still retaining the integrity of SMSQ-E.
Best wishes, Geoff
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