What part of OSD#6 prevents someone for charging to license the software to one group and give the software away for free to another as long as the same open source license is made available to both?
Actually, as long as the license is OSI compatible--meaning effectively that some recipient could give the software to the party to which one does not wish to sell, is there any reason that a developer could not sell open source software only to a select group of people? For example, consider the following possible strawmen: Strawman 1: 1) Developer A creates software. 2a) Developer A creates a web site and offers the software for gratis distribution to non-commercial users via a web site. 2b) Said developer offers for sale (but not gratis) direct distribution to commercial users. 3) Developer A ships the software to said users under the GPL. 4) Non-commercial user B gets a copy of said software and gives (or sells) it to commercial enity B (under the terms of the GPL) 5a) Can developer A, say that they have complied with the OSI definition? 5b) What if they indicate that such "circumvention" is legal--but "discouraged" at the web site? Strawman 2, same as one, but substitute for 2a/b 2a) Developer A creates a web site and offers the software for sale to non-commercial users via a web site. 2b) Said developer refuses to sell (directly, i.e. themselves) to commercial users. -Chris -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
