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-   -   I don't understand the Omni licence. (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=2968)

countach 2007-03-02 04:53 PM

I don't understand the Omni licence.
 
The Omni frameworks are described as "Open Source"

[url]http://www.omnigroup.com/developer/[/url]

But the licence file I found in the source when I downloaded it says:

"You may not charge a fee for the Software"

However the open source definition:

[url]http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php[/url]

says:

"The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software".

Am I missing something here? Are these frameworks not really open source?

Lizard 2007-03-02 08:09 PM

(disclaimer: I generally handle bugs, not legal issues, and can't officially speak on legal matters, so it may be better if you email us directly if you have specific questions.)
Where are the Omni frameworks described as "open source"? I could not find that phrase either on the page you linked to nor the license linked from that page. So perhaps Omni's frameworks don't fit the precise definition established by opensource.org, but they are relatively open, in that you can see the code in them and re-use it in your own applications.

The FAQ on [URL="http://www.omnigroup.com/developer/sourcecode/sourcelicense/"]this page[/URL] clarifies that if you use our framework in your application, you can still charge money for your application, as long as you give us some credit in your 'About' dialog or wherever is appropriate. The limitation is on selling the frameworks by themselves, without adding some value to them.
Again, please contact us if you have concerns about this. (info@omnigroup.com)

Wim Lewis 2007-03-02 10:01 PM

Non-OSI-Certified
 
Yep, as Liz points out, although the frameworks are free software, open-source in a general sense, the license is definitely not [url=http://www.opensource.org/licenses/]OSI approved[/url] and there are a few places where it goes against the [url=http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php]OSI "open-source definition"[/url]. The main reason for that, I'm pretty sure, is simply that the Omni source releases predate those things (just barely); it looks like we haven't even modified the source license since 1998, a little while after the OSI came into existence.

Anyway, if you have a specific concern or problem with the source license that's keeping you from doing something you want to do, please contact us. (Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer either.)


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