Re: Chemical modelling software
Drew Parsons wrote:
> - viewmol (ftp://ccl.osc.edu/pub/chemistry/software/SOURCES/C/viewmol/)
>
> viewmol supplies source which compiles (and also an rpm, which
> segfaulted under potato). The copyright statement inside their
> documentation indicates that "Permission to use, copy, and
> distribute VIEWMOL in its entirety, for non-commercial and
> non-military purposes,
Both `for non-commercial and non-military purposes' make it
non-free.
> is hereby granted without fee, provided
> that this license information and copyright notice appear in
> all copies." They go on to state "Licenses for commercial use
> can be obtained from the author." without specifying what that
> license might entail (gratis or what?) They also state that
> "Modification of the source code is permitted. ", and invite
> any modifications to be sent to them for inclusion in the
> official code.
This looks okay for non-free.
> I'm not so certain about viewmol, however. It's terms of
> copyright seem close in spirit to the free software guidelines,
> although I expect we would have check with the author about the
> meaning of the commercial use clause.
You might want to talk to them about it, but perhaps this is
typical in your field (and the author has a hope of eventually
making a pile of money from some company that want the software).
Peter
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