FOSS In government use
FOSS In government use
My question in FOSS is whether, or how the license applies, if anyone can clarify it for me. I'm not going into a legal battle, I just am having issues rectifying the licensing with my expectations.
Also, ia most FOSS is written this way, with an expectation that organizations have to pay for licensing to use the software?
The issue below is for AGPL and PDFCreator. AGPL, if I read it correctly, seems to restrict restrictions on the license.
I work as MSP for an entity who uses PDFCreator, quite possibly based on a previous license.
I can't otherwise explain the use or make changes myself, other than it is used as a PDF printer on user desktops to create digital documents.
What I can say is that we had recently attempted to automate the process of installing it with new computers. We ran into a minor hiccup and contacted their support for assistance. The response was that the program is not intended for free use in a corporate environment and that we will need to purchase licenses.
While I take issue with their determination and restriction of the use, it is their software and they make the rules. I'm not sure if they are violating the GPL, but I'd like some understanding if anything has a different interpretation.
We will most likely just use the built in PDF creator. A loss for the FOSS footprint, but not something I can control.
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GPL says you can sell the software for whatever price you want too. I could take any piece of sodtware licensed under GPLv3, bundle it up, charge people for that software (while telling them that what I am selling them is GPLv3 software and informing them that they can request a copy of the source code including any modifications that I have made to it). That's totally fine. But why would someone pay for the software if the seller is not adding any value to to product? cough windows app store cough
Not providing builds seems to be a good incentive. I've seen some projects that charge for the installation/compiled software with the source freely available. Lots of software is a gigantic pain in the ass to build without the proper configuration and pipeline set up.