Re: phpldapadmin 0.9.5, is it free?
On Thu, Jan 06, 2005 at 08:44:38AM +0200, Iassen Pramatarov wrote:
> > > While phpLDAPadmin costs 49.95 for commercial download, we are providing
> > > it for free to home users. If you purchase the commercial download, you
> > > get the added benefit of support from the original developers.
> Why would this be a violation? Everyone can sell free software. (not
> freeware, but free/open source software)
The wording of the above implies that the author does not intend
commercial users to be allowed to use the "free to home users" version.
Of course, this contradicts the GPL itself. It probably means either
that the author is confused, or simply wrote the above text poorly.
> Q. Can you really charge for phpLDAPadmin? Isn't it Open Source
> software?
> A. Yes and yes. The GPL specifically allows sellers to charge for the
> service of distributing and/or supporting users of GPL-licensed
> software. Here is an article that may help with this question:
> http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040722.html
This is an odd approach, though. It seems to make much more sense to
simply offer the software, and then charge for the support itself.
(After all, I'd expect anyone paying for this support to simply use
the GPL version, and only purchase the "commercial" version to get
support if it actually becomes necessary, so it ends up being the
same thing.)
--
Glenn Maynard
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