[Asterisk-Users] Re: Digium Website Update: Asterisk Business Edition

[Esben Stien]

William Waites <asterisk at lists.styx.org> writes:

> So this is a version of Asterisk that is released by Digium but
> is not released under the GPL. Correct?

Yes, because digium has a dual license, you have to give up your
copyright if you submit code to the project. This makes it possible to
release a non free version in addition to the free one.

> If it were released under the GPL, the source code would be
> available. Correct?

It is under the GPL, but as developers give up their copyright, digium
has the right to release this same code as non-free software. 

> So Digium has leveraged the community to build for them a
> proprietary product. Correct?

Yes, you can say that. This is also a reason why many free software
developers has not jumped on this project. Maybe we'll see a fork some
day where we can contribute code without giving up on the
copyright. It is this mix of copyrighted gpl code that protects it's
freedom.

When you own the entire copyright on a project, you can easily change
it. The code that has been released as free software will however
always be free, but as you have the copyright, you can also release
this code as non free (in addition).

-- 
Esben Stien is b0ef at e     s      a             
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