From: Everett L Williams II Date: 2011-02-08T21:37:17+09:00 Subject: Re: Choosing an office suite --------------060301040105000603040301 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Peter Hickman wrote: > On 8 February 2011 06:12, Phillip Gawlowski wrote: > >> technologies. While you can grab database engines, libraries, etc. off >> the shelf, you have to check licensing (Anything GPL licensed will >> *force* you to publish your own source code, for example, while the >> LGPL doesn't have this problem), learn and deal with a lot of >> > Ok you are clearly channeling Steve Balmer here. Stop with the bullshit. > > > > A more pertinent issue is escrow, customers may want your code placed > in escrow to ensure that should you go under they can continue to use > and develop the product that they depend on. > > See a lawyer about that Peter, What you have said about GPL is largely true, but don't count on escrowed code to be available to you or anyone but the successor owner of the patents and copyrights. Bankruptcy courts have consistently ruled that the source code is a capital asset that must be sold to satisfy the various people who apply to the court for redress. This overrides all such escrow contracts. Most companies specifically state that you do not own the product that you are paying for, only a right to use it. If you owned it, you might have some redress, but that opens up another whole can of worms for the company actually owning the rights. There have been many attempts to get around this, but I know of no specific technique that has consistently worked. If the source is considered abandoned or has been legally published into the public domain, then anyone can use it, but that is unlikely in any commercial situation that is not deliberately GPL or some similar situation. It is difficult but not impossible for a public corporation to release commercially valuable code into the public domain or to GPL, because it dilutes shareholder value, so the company must show that they receive value for what they release, which can be done. The real crimes and difficulties arise in the area of software patents, which should be banned as pernicious. Though IANAL, I dealt with copyright issues for a billion dollar company in my past, coaching the stupid lawyers on the issues. I will say that the Millennium Copyright Act is an almighty screwup, designed to keep Disney from losing Mickey, while screwing up almost everything else. Everett L(Rett) Williams II --------------060301040105000603040301--