Re: GNAT GPL Edition Maintenance and Upgrades

[Szymon Guz <alpha@skynet.org.pl_WITHOUT>]

Samuel Tardieu napisał(a):
>>>>>>"Jeff" == Jeff Creem <jcreem@yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> 
> Jeff> No. Actually, what it shows is that a large number of developers
> Jeff> are not lawyers and don't understand software licensing so when
> Jeff> licensing terms are brought to the forefront, they get confused
> Jeff> and upset.
> 
> It also shows that AdaCore changed their mind and strategy
> completely. Here is an excerpt of a comp.lang.ada post from Robert
> Dewar (6 May 1999):
> 
> "In fact this is far from a theoretical situation, it is quite fine
>  legally for someone to distribute GPL'ed software for price $x,
>  possibly $0, and charge you a bundle for a separate license that
>  allows you to use the same software in a proprietary context. Indeed
>  it is my understanding (and I apologize in advance if this is an
>  incorrect understanding) that Cygwin is distributed under EXACTLY
>  this split model.
>  
>  One may argue over whether such a distribution model is a good idea
>  (at ACT we prefer a completely clean situation with no such dual
>  licensing, which is why we use the modified GPL for runtime stuff),
>  but it is absolutely 100% consistent with the GPL. Indeed I have
>  heard people argue that it is appropriate, because it gives full
>  access to those writing free software, and penalizes those writing
>  proprietary software, which to some people seems an appropriate
>  situation :-)"
> 
> Note the "at ACT we prefer a completely clean situation with no such dual
> licensing, which is why we use the modified GPL for runtime stuff".
> 
> Well, it looks like the "clean situation" is not the preferred one
> anymore.
> 
>   Sam

Another problem can be the price that ACT wants for GNAT. About a year 
ago I wrote a mail to ACT and asked about the price. The answer was that 
I cannot buy licence for one seat, I can buy for at least 5 seats. They 
offered me all others products (for about 20% of their normal price) and 
GNAT Pro for 5 seats just for about 30 000 euros. For many companies 
this is too much as they can have e.g. Delphi|Builder professional for 
1000 euros with much more components.

szymon guz