[Asterisk-biz] Help needed convincing a big customer.

[Roderick Montgomery]

According to Kevin P. Fleming:
> sai wrote:
> 
> >Sign an agreement saying that they cant use or sell the source code
> >unless you go bust or are unable to work with them.
> 
> Sorry, that's not an option. If you obtained Asterisk via GPL, then you 
> must make the source available to anyone you distribute binaries to.

Under the GPL only, that's true. However, Digium offers just such an option
because they can license the entire Asterisk code base outside of the GPL
and are the only entity capable of doing so. I'm not interested in a
religious war about the GPL, I'm only stating a fact.

See <URL:http://digium.com/index.php?menu=software_development>

I would remind readers of this message, though, that the GPL is at least as
much about software freedoms than it is about software price. It's easy to
get accustomed to software with no price tag, but that doesn't mean there
aren't costs. You must play by the legal rules.

Digium, in my opinion, is blazing a trail in business along with MySQL AB
and similar OpenSource-driven companies. Mark and the smart folks that work
with him at Digium have found a clever way to sustain a business while
creating open technologies that are provided with uncommon freedoms. 
Working within their generous licensing options is the least we as the
asterisk business community must do to support them.

rm
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 Roderick Montgomery   rod at thecomplex.com   <URL:http://thecomplex.com/>
the fool stands only to fall, but the wise trip on grace... [Sarah Masen]
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