From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,faf964ea4531e6af X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Terry J. Westley" Subject: GPL and "free" software (was: air traffic control software) Date: 1999/04/21 Message-ID: <7fl5ac$9sh$1@news2.tor.accglobal.net>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 469227368 References: <7fibd5$jc7$1@news2.tor.accglobal.net> <7fjucn$k4p$1@trog.dera.gov.uk> <7fkl3v$1e2$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> X-Priority: 3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2014.211 Organization: Calspan/Veridian X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Reply-To: "Terry J. Westley" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-04-21T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Kevin Rigotti wrote: > ATC software is rather expensive to produce, so you are > not likely to find too much of it for free, Robert Dewar responded: > First, this is not what he asked, he asked whether there > was GPL'ed code available. This has nothing to do with > being free of cost. There is GPL code that costs money, > and non-GPL'ed code that you can get without paying > anything. These two factors (license used for distribution, > and cost charged) are not linked in the manner you assume. Robert is correct. I also asked about GOTS (Government Off The Shelf). Lot's of GOTS software is available "free" to those who qualify. A lot of it wasn't cheap to produce. We are currently using (and integrating some into our products) Samba, R, emacs, Tcl/Tk, perl, and other GPL'd and open source products. (On a personal note, I've recently decided to release TASH, an Ada binding to Tcl/Tk [http://tash.calspan.com] under the GPL.) I wish a lot of success to ACT, Scriptics, Redhat, and others who are pioneering business models based on open source products. Even though our product is not and never will be public open source, I am trying to convince our management that our customers need and want source code. I believe this will build their confidence in our product and give them a level of ownership that enhances the product. If it doesn't, we need to improve our code, not hide it. -- Terry J. Westley, Principal Engineer Veridian Engineering, Calspan Operations twestley@buffalo.veridian.com http://www.veridian.com/ ------------------------------------------------------- Author of TASH, an Ada binding to Tcl/Tk. Visit the TASH web site at http://tash.calspan.com. -------------------------------------------------------