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Circle Dock / Re: Goodbye all, I'm out of here effective immediately
« Last post by 40hz on August 12, 2010, 09:26 AM »Rather than speculate on what is and isn't allowed in this scenario, I've contacted FSF about exactly what the obligations and options are for this particular case.
From my understanding of GPL3 the following is how it's going to work:
Not being an attorney, I wanted to confirm my educated guesses with FSF. Unfortunately the person I really need to talk to is out at conference and will be unavailable to chat with me until sometime next week.
I will stay on top of this, and let people know what FSF has to say about all this.
----
@Markham: I know it's hard to remain calm when you've tried to play by the rules of GPL and other people not only aren't - but are defying you to do anything about it. But please don't let your understandable anger and frustration with the situation make you see enemies where there aren't any. Maybe not everybody at DoCo is agreeing with what you're saying. But that does not mean your work was unappreciated, or that anybody has any less respect for your feelings or opinions despite their possible disagreement with them.
So be angry. It's understandable. I'd be absolutely livid if I were in the same boat. But please try not to let any justifiable anger get out of control and cause you to interpret what looks to me like a comedy of errors - and some misread (or possible missing) communications with DoCo's administration - as an effort to ignore your concerns or hurt you in any way.
We're all friends here. And I think Mouser and the rest of us have done as much as we can to let you know we all still consider you one of them. Now it's up to you.
Either way, I personally wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.
From my understanding of GPL3 the following is how it's going to work:
- As long as the binaries to CD are no longer being distributed, there is no obligation for Mark to personally continue providing the source code.
- As author (or co-author) of much of the current code, Mark holds copyright on what he's written.
- If he removes what is left of Mr. Wong's original code from his current codebase, he is free to relicense what is left however he wishes.
- But even so (since a GPL licensed product incorporating his code has already been released) his contributed code (up to that point) is also bound by the terms of the GPL - which means there is nothing that can be done to anybody who avails themselves of sharing/selling/distributing either the source or the binaries already in their possession. Such activities are specifically allowed under the terms of the GPL - which cannot be revoked after the fact.
- The fact that his code was once released under GPL will make it difficult for any future versions of his program to invoke protection under IP laws since it would be necessary to establish exactly which lines of code and what program features were originally released under GPL - and which were not. (Attorneys love stuff like that.) This is not to say Mark can't try. But it has become immeasurably more difficult for him to do so with GPL lurking in CD's past.
- And finally, irregardless of what Mark does, the only person who could possibly make legal trouble for him over GPL is the original copyright holder, Mr. Eric Wong. But since Eric has gone missing, Mark is at no more risk of real legal action (no matter what he does) than are the people who are illegally using CD's code in their closed commercial products.
Not being an attorney, I wanted to confirm my educated guesses with FSF. Unfortunately the person I really need to talk to is out at conference and will be unavailable to chat with me until sometime next week.
I will stay on top of this, and let people know what FSF has to say about all this.
----
@Markham: I know it's hard to remain calm when you've tried to play by the rules of GPL and other people not only aren't - but are defying you to do anything about it. But please don't let your understandable anger and frustration with the situation make you see enemies where there aren't any. Maybe not everybody at DoCo is agreeing with what you're saying. But that does not mean your work was unappreciated, or that anybody has any less respect for your feelings or opinions despite their possible disagreement with them.
So be angry. It's understandable. I'd be absolutely livid if I were in the same boat. But please try not to let any justifiable anger get out of control and cause you to interpret what looks to me like a comedy of errors - and some misread (or possible missing) communications with DoCo's administration - as an effort to ignore your concerns or hurt you in any way.
We're all friends here. And I think Mouser and the rest of us have done as much as we can to let you know we all still consider you one of them. Now it's up to you.
Either way, I personally wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.
)
Sorry it didn't work out for you. I didn't find SmarterMail particularly difficult to use, but I apparently had better luck than you on the two occasions when I had to request assistance from the community. Both times, the answers I got were succinct and helpful.
