Re: [HACKERS] Re: Revised Copyright: is this morepalatable?

JanWieck@t-online.de (Jan Wieck) writes:

> Trond Eivind=?iso-8859-1?q?_Glomsr=F8d?= wrote:
> > Mike Mascari <mascarm@mascari.com> writes:
> >
> > > This is not something new. SunOS, AIX, HPUX, etc. all have (at
> > > one time or another) considerable BSD roots. And yet FreeBSD
> > > still exists... All GPL does is 'poison' the pot by prohibiting
> > > commercial spawns which may leverage the code.
> >
> > GPL doesn't prohibit commercial spawns - it just requires you to send
> > the source along.
>
>     So  if  someone  offers  $$$  for  implementation of Postgres
>     feature XYZ I don't have to make that code open source?

You don't have to tell the world they can have it for free - you can
sell it, and develop it by demand.

>     Only  need  to  ship  the  code  to the one paying

Yes.

>     (under NDA so he cannot publish it) and grab the money?

An NDA can't be done, but you certainly can grab the money. If he
wanted you to add a feature, he could pay you for it.

>     That's currently possible with our license,

With GPL as well - you just can't deny the customer to distribute the
source if he wants to.
>
>     No question, the  result  will  finally  get  contributed  so
>     everyone  benefits  from  it.  The reason why someone is even
>     willing to pay that amount is  just  to  get  me  out  of  my
>     dayjob,  focussing  on  his  problem  NOW,  so it's done in a
>     month.

That would certainly be possible.
--
Trond Eivind Glomsrød
Red Hat, Inc.