Re: New open source UML tool including Ada support

[dave.wood@aonix.com]

On Jul 10, 3:35 pm, Markus E Leypold
<development-2006-8ecbb5cc8aREMOVET...@ANDTHATm-e-leypold.de> wrote:
> > On Jul 10, 6:08 pm, Markus E Leypold
> > <development-2006-8ecbb5cc8aREMOVET...@ANDTHATm-e-leypold.de> wrote:
>
> > Well the Aonix press release states:
>
> >          "Under the new open source policy, Ameos is available
> >           under terms based on the GNU Lesser General Public
> >           License (LGPL) as OpenAmeos."
>
> > Which sounds promising to me! :-)
>
> Yes, _promising_. But at the moment there is only an executable, no
> source. And I have been wondering about the license this executable is
> under, since anybody getting it, can't resditribute it under the
> LGPL/modified-whatever, because, well he hasn't gotten the source (and
> probably not not LGPL license too, because that would guarantee him
> the source).
>
> Murky legal questions are lurking there in the dark.

It's not a big mystery unless people want to create one. We are simply
making the sources publicly available under terms based on LGPL.

>
> I wonder why people do things like this, instead of just going public
> when the source IS there. Or getting the press release right (saying
> the're now free-as-beer but intent to go open).

Are we evil or are we incompetent? One of the mysteries of life...

>
> As I interpret the terms of use: This version, presently available is
> free-as-in-beer. What will happen in future, we will have to see and
> the press release is at least 2 weeks early: "is available" should
> better read "will be available" -- and I notice they give no deadline
> for that either.

We decided to put Ameos into open source, and we made certain sources
available IMMEDIATELY to existing Ameos users on an as-needed basis.
As such "is available" is not inaccurate. We also went ahead and
announced the open sourcing so other people would know about it. I
don't want to debate press release semantics, but IMO this one is
fine.

Why the delay? The reality is that a couple components of the sources
need to be "cleansed" of encumbrances before the sources can be put on
the web site for general availability. To be distinquished, this
cleansed version is called OpenAmeos.

This should happen within a few weeks. Unless you happened to have a
burning need for Ameos sources RIGHT NOW, I wouldn't expect this
interim period to be too painful for anybody. As you can see, the
executable is provided for anyone with actual work needing to be done,
and is indeed free as beer and will make you almost as happy as
drinking free beer.

>
> (Does anybody remember OpenDOS, the former DR-DOS: Should have become
> available as open source, first they made a binary release, there even
> was some (non-compiling) source code available for a very limited time
> under a not-so-open license. Said they needed to clean up. And they
> cleaned and cleaned and after a number of months (more than 12, I
> remember), they (I think it even was Caldera) decided that OpenDOS was
> an asset and they decide not to open it up. Wow. Cool publicity
> stunt. Not that I say that is what Aonix intends, but after more than
> 2 decades in the industry I believe only in deeds rather than
> promises.)

Quite frankly, I would not waste my time on such nonsense, but after
two (and a half) decades in the industry, such cynicism doesn't
surprise me. :)

The OpenAmeos sources and LGPL license agreement will appear "soon" on
the OpenAmeos.org web site. Please enjoy your free software, and free
sources, which follow many, many years of hard work by many talented
engineers.

Regards,

Dave Wood
VP Marketing
Aonix