Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] QGIS plug-in-based software

2021-03-16 Thread Vincent Picavet (ml) 
Hello Oskaras,

Great to see new actors coming to the OpenSource and QGIS World ! Welcome to the
land of freedom !

Some remarks below.

On 16/03/2021 09:15, Oskaras Alsauskas wrote:
[..]
>  1) Are there any kind of restrictions, licenses, or fees to take care of in
> order for us to sell licenses and distribute our QGIS plug-in-based solution
> commercially?

If you distribute a QGIS plugin, it has to be under the GPL version 2 (or later
) licence.
The GPL does not prevent you from selling the software. But any person buying it
would be allowed to use, copy, modify and redistribute the plugin. The
proprietary licence-based economic model therefore does not work with opensource
software.
If you distribute your plugin, you must make the source code available
somewhere, with according licence.
You should also be careful when reusing other software components in your
plugin, as they must be compatible with the GPL to be linked.

There is no other restriction, for plugin development, and no fee.

Additional constraints exists though concerning the QGIS brand and trademark.
Its use is detailed here :
https://qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/trademark/index.html

> 2) Do you know what is the usual license selling approach when it comes to 
> QGIS
> plug-in-based software, since any QGIS plug-in must be open source?
> 
> I have come across companies selling their QGIS plug-in(s)-based software and
> initially thought that there should not be any issues for us to do the same, 
> but
> after diving into the GNU GPL it looks like there are plenty of details, we 
> have
> to figure out before making the decision.

As said, you can sell your plugin, but this is not usually a stable economic
model. At some point your plugin will be freely available.

What you can do is provide commercial services around your software :
- publish your plugin freely, sell added-value services in your field of
expertise, using the fame of your plugin as a funnel to your company
- publish your plugin freely, sell IT services around the plugin, like feature
development contract
- publish your plugin and sell a full package of services around it : yearly
maintenance ( bugfix), training, etc
- publish your plugin freely and have another proprietary side application with
a paying licence-based economic model. The side application should not be
necessarily required to be able to run the plugin or you would also break the 
GPL.

Usually companies fear to opensource their work as they do not want "competitors
to steal my software and take my clients away from me". This actually almost
never happens : the reality is that if you develop the software actively, you
always have a lead on expertise on the software, and noone will try to overrun
you, it would be too big of a risk and investment. Forking a software costs a
lot of money and usually fails. ( Disclaimer : this is untrue if you start
playing in the same field as GAFAM, who have unlimited investment budgets and no
care for pet opensource companies ).
There are plenty of companies living from opensource software. We could talk for
hours on how to organize an opnesource business to be sustainable, as there are
many issues at stake ( like HR, communication, recruitment, environmental
impact...).

If you encountered companies selling the QGIS plugin with restrictions on its
use ( as "do not copy or redistribute the plugin"), then they are out of their
right, and should change their behaviour ASAP, as it is not only irrespectuous
to the opensource community, but also infringing QGIS licence.

hope this helps,
Vincent


> 
> Any kind of information regarding the QGIS commercial use topic will be highly
> appreciated.
> 
> Looking forward hearing from the community.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Oskaras Alšauskas
> 
> 
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Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Fwd: Nominating Gaël Kruwialis as a OSGeo charter

2016-07-15 Thread Vincent Picavet (ml) 
Hello,

On 14/07/2016 11:35, Dirk Frigne wrote:
> I second the nomination of Gael Kruwialis (in cc) as a charter member
> for OSGeo.

And one more support from my side !
Regards,

Vincent

> 
> Gael is advocating open Geo software in his organisation (the Brussels
> administration for environmental matters) already a long time and is
> trying to promote it as a user.
> 
> Gael, a geographer engaged in geomatics through remote sensing, became
> from his professional need very interested in the open source movement
> and all the solutions available, and was quickly convinced that Open
> Source could be a real benefit for his organisation to advance
> interoperability between administrations.
> Gael is Active in the implementation of INSPIRE and SDI infrastructures
> and he evangelizes and provides solutions to its surroundings for
> greater ethics.
> He has user experience with MapServer - and PostGIS. He is active in
> beopengis.
> 
> Gael is one of the founding members of OSGeo.be and is
> volunteering very actively helping to find sponsors and helping with all
> the logistical aspects to organise events such as the FOSS4G conference.
> 
> Last year Gael realised that his organisation was the main sponsor  of
> the first FOSS4G conference in Belgium and is always open to help where
> he can promoting open source and OSGeo.
> 
> Dirk
> 
> On 14-07-16 09:16, Vasile Craciunescu wrote:
>> Forwarding Gaël Kruwialis nomination by Maëlle Vercauteren Drubbel.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Vasile
>> 2016 OSGeo Elections CRO
>>
>>
>> 2016-07-06 10:05 GMT+02:00 Maelle Vercauteren > >:
>>
>> Dear CRO,
>>
>> I would like to nominate Gaël Kruwialis for the OSGeo Charter
>> members election:
>>
>> Gaël Kruwialis (email: ) is a
>> dynamic supporter of OpenSource Geospatial technologies and OpenData.
>>
>> Active in the implementation of INSPIRE and PSI to advance
>> interoperability between administrations. Gaël was among the first
>> in Belgian Public administrations not only to support and use
>> FOSS4G, but to actively promote and fund OSGeo's events in Belgium.
>>
>> Gaël is one of the founding members of the local chapter OSGeo.be
>> and he is part of the organisation team for BeOpenGIs, the first &
>> second FOSS4G conferences in Belgium.
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>> Maë//e
>>
>>
>> Maëlle Vercauteren Drubbel
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Maellevd
>>
>>
>> 2016-07-04 14:29 GMT+02:00 Vasile Craciunescu
>> mailto:vas...@geo-spatial.org>>:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> This year OSGeo elections started today with the nomination
>> period for new Charter Members. The nomination period is open
>> for the next two weeks. Please help our Foundation grow and
>> nominate new Charter Members by 2016-07-17.
>>
>> Elections page:
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Election_2016
>>
>> Please help spread the word and also reach out to communities
>> who have
>> not yet been connected with OSGeo.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Vasile (2016 CRO)
>>
>>
>> ___
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>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> 

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Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] [OSGeo Elections 2015] Nomination for Jürgen E. Fischer

2015-08-28 Thread Vincent Picavet (ml) 
Hello,

On 26/08/2015 11:18, Vasile Craciunescu wrote:
> Forwarding Jürgen E. Fischer nomination by Anne Ghisla.

+1 too, I would'nt have guessed Jef wasn't already a Charter Member !

Vincent

> 
> Best regards,
> Vasile
> 
> 
>  Forwarded Message 
> Subject: [Charter Member nomination] Jürgen E. Fischer (jef)
> Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:46:56 +0200
> From: Anne Ghisla 
> To: c...@osgeo.org
> CC: j...@norbit.de
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I would like to nominate Jürgen E. Fischer [1] for Charter Membership.
> 
> Jürgen, aka jef, is one of the most active QGIS developers and
> contributors ever [2], and is presently QGIS release manager and PSC
> member.
> He is active on most QGIS communication channels and in the
> German-speaking geospatial community (FOSSGIS e.V.).
> 
> Experience and passion for open geospatial make jef a great candidate
> for Charter Membership.
> 
> Best regards,
> Anne
> 
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Jef
> [2] https://github.com/jef-n
> 
> 
> 
> 
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