[Zope] Zope and the GPL poison pill

[Tim Cook]

Danny William Adair wrote:
> 
> Hi all!
> 
> Now Nils and Oleg are giving me the creeps.
> Is it not possible to take a few GPLed Zope products, add your own effort of
> configuring, integrating, building, (re-)designing, and even documenting the
> outcome of your efforts and - ___sell___ this? Maybe not only to _one_
> customer, but burn a CD and sell it to _a couple_ of customers?
>

Yes, you can. BUT, you must make the source code available.
 
> In my opinion (yes, opinion has nothing to do with lawyers and courts ;-)),
> in this case you wouldn't be selling other people's products, no you would
> have created something new, which ___you___ can put a copyright on. It's a
> compilation, and with enough value-adding effort put in to this compilation,
> none of the respective GPL authors could claim to be co-author of your
> production. Since you don't want to (only) sell your service of deploying,
> but also your new product. (product in its conventional meaning, I would
> call a Zope product a "module" in this respect)


This is exactly why I decided to GPL my FreePM project.  A
company with deeper pockets for marketing and more presence in
the marketplace could take my work (under some of the other
licenses ) and use it to their own gain. Under the GPL, they must
make their source available too.
 
The GPL is not a cure all. But it certainly has it's place.

>    But as one of the people who respect your freedom, I will do all my best
> to protect your freedom (in the way that do not limit my freedom). You are
> free to use my code, to read it and patch it, to send me your patches or to
> fork the code. AND FINALLY YOUR ARE FREE TO *ignore* MY CODE!
> 
>    But please, please! If you respect my freedom - do not ask me to change
> the license. I love GPL and found it pretty suitable for my needs.
> 
> Oleg.

Exactly! <g>


-- Tim Cook --
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