copyrights

[Hynek Hanke]

On 29.9.2010 15:19, Halim Sahin wrote:
> EG: andrei adds pico output module licenses it with GPL.
> Brailcom decides changing it to LGPL. LGPL can be used in CS-Software.
> So relicensing is a problem in my opinion!
>    

It is a matter of trust. If we trust each other, it is
more convenient to keep a possibility to manage
things.

LGPL is not an evil license, it was made by Free Software
Foundation and as they state is an issue of strategy.
Sometimes, it is useful to be able to link with closed
source, because it brings benefits back to your
Free Software project. I don't think, for example,
that Speech Dispatcher can do without support
for closed source synthesizers.

Some parts of code that need to be linked with
closed source, such as the audio library, used
to be GPL. There was a certain moment in the
history of development of speechd when we had to
change these libraries to LGPL, and luckily, at that
time it was possible.

Brailcom is one of the few companies that from the start
develops all its software as free software. We are involved
in other projects than desktop accessibility (e-learning, database
information systems...), and everything, even if we develop
on contract, is Free Software. How many companies can say
that?

We are not interested in decisions that will take us out
of this path. On the contrary, we need to be as free
as possible to be able to take proper ways to strengthen
the position of the Free Software projects.

It's a mutual thing. If you do not trust us, how can
we trust you? If we do not trust each other, how can
we work? This doesn't make any sense *smile*.

As for completely independent parts, like the output
module for pico you mentioned, it is written in the
cooperation guidelines that they can be copyrighted
by the original author, not Brailcom. It is the authors
decision.

I hope I could explain myself well, as I'm aware there
is a lot of possibilities for misunderstanding. We trust
and respect you as developers and we rely on the fact
that you trust us and together we can cooperate in the
development of Free Software accessibility.

Best regards,
Hynek Hanke