Re: GPL confusion

[Christopher Browne]

In an attempt to throw the authorities off his trail, "Kenneth P. Turvey" 
<kt@squeakydolphin.com> transmitted:
> On 22 May 2004 01:08:13 GMT, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org> wrote:
>> 
>> They are essentially selling a traditionally licensed "proprietary"
>> product that is developed by the traditional sort of private
>> corporate clique, but offering an option for you to "kick the
>> tires" in advance.  They are getting some cheap advertising out of
>> "open source" people by having an occasionally-usable "open source"
>> license for it.
>
> I'm not sure how this is only "occasionally-usable".  You can use
> the database all you want, you just can't derive work from it and
> release it under a closed source license.
>
> I'm not sure how they could be more reasonable. 

If I write an application that I am not licensing under the GPL, and
that application stores data in a MySQL database, the vendor seems to
claim that this requires that I buy a commercial non-GPL license.

Their discussions of their licensing policies never once use the word
"derive."  The 'connection' to their software that mandates buying
non-GPL licenses is not that of 'derivation,' but rather simply the
_use_ of the software.

  "The Open Source License allows you to use the software at no charge
  under the condition that if you use MySQL in an application you
  redistribute, the complete source code for your application must be
  available and freely redistributable"

That sure doesn't look like "use the database all you want" to me.
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