[Asterisk-Users] Help with GPL license of Asterisk

[Steven Critchfield]

On Mon, 2003-09-29 at 10:44, costas wrote:
> Sometimes I wonder if this GPL opens a can of worms bigger than the
> one it tries to solve.
> 
> Example: 
> 1) No GPL. I pay and buy a library that does something. In simple
> terms they let me redistribute the library combined into my code. 
> Cost: of library and cost per copy sold.

And you get occasionally "audited" by the BSA to make sure your in
compliance with your licensing.

> 2) With GPL. I want to commercially distribute an app that interfaces
> to it. 
> Cost: I am afraid of getting sued so I hire a lawyer who at mucho
> bucks tells me its ok. 
> So here is the Damoclean Sword: I go ahead with it and become
> succesful. I still get sued (in theory) and hire mucho attorneys for
> much money to defend.

So you open source your app and provide top notch service and support
for it and forget the lawyers. You will not get paid for every install,
but you will not need any lawyers around. The only problem is that you
compete on service and being the person who should know the most about
that product.

Or you go the ASP route and don't distribute your software to anyone,
but rather lease it. This is a tough sell since most people are "server
huggers" and want to own and be able to hug their server when the want
to. The upside is you are only selling the service and not the software
so it is skirting the distribution problem.

> So, if I want to just use Asterisk without worrying, how much does it
> cost? I mean is there a cost per installation?

You'll have to negotiate that with Digium sales people as they are the
only people who can give you a quote.


> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: TC <trclark at shaw.ca>
> Reply-To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Date:  Mon, 29 Sep 2003 07:39:41 -0700
> 
> >>If you have to link your software with a GPL library or use header files
> >>you have used GPL files and will be required to honor the license. If
> >>you use AGI, the stdin/stdout sufficiently isolates the parts. 
> >I would assume an interface off manager also isolates the parts as well
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Asterisk-Users mailing list
> >Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> >http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> >
> 
> --
> Costas Menico
> Meezon Software Corp
> 201-224-8111
> costas at meezon.com
> 
> --
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-- 
Steven Critchfield  <critch at basesys.com>