Re: Advantages/Disadvantages of Open Source Software (Was Re: Package grub-xen-host breaks PV domains with 11.5 point release)
On 2022-09-14 08:31, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote:
>>> For example, most web
>>> browsers are based on chromium, a free oss project that comes in large part from
>>> Google, but some of the most-used browsers in the world based on chromium
>>> are proprietary, such as chrome and edge.
>> I am not sure that this holds true. I would be quite surprised that
>> chromium or edged can legally use code of a OSS browser, being CSS. But
>> I am not an attorney.
This is where intellectual shortcut starts...
Free/OSS doesn't mean GPL.
There's plenty of Free/OSS software that the copyright owner retains
right to commercial licensing. Just look at libraries, some of them will
be in such a licensing term that if you use the free version, you have
to share your code if you distribute it but they offer a commercial
license that allow you to link and distribute without source code. If
you only stick to Debian, no such thing because they aren't in the
licensing term accepted for distribution.
But let say QT, you have a free version, force you to distribute freely
if linked against or you go with the commercial license.
Why would the owner of the copyright regarding Chromium (that can write
their own terms) couldn't reserve himself a right to make a closed
source version (like Google Chrome, owned by the owner of Chromium license).
Something taking a break and make some research just shows off that we
don't only know how to type code, but we have a bit more knowledge than
that, regarding mostly real life example of what's also part of the
ecosystem.
--
Polyna-Maude R.-Summerside
-Be smart, Be wise, Support opensource development
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