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Accounting Free Software

Posted by garym on Fri, 03/04/2005 - 10:35

Phil and Brad had a business problem: After over a decade with a product successfull enough to keep them in , they still hadn't made that leap out of Saskatchewan and into the mainstream ...

"We wanted to see Quasar used all over the world and have the pride of it being our product," Pepers says. "But we needed to figure out a way to do it and still make a living."

First they tried a low, low price for their point-of-sale/SME accounting pack, then they tried giving away the core engine for free hoping to drive sales in the accessory full-feature modules ...

They've settled on rewrite to remove any lingering proprietary bits, and going with a pure , and watching their creation blossom:

Developer input on the mailing lists has provided valuable information to help Canada with important details, such as streamlining the installation process and improving the international customization (l18N) aspects of Quasar. For example, "a user in Norway has sent an example import he was using," says Pepers. "He was having problems with non-English characters, and working with him we were able to use his data to test character set encodings and their interaction in Quasar between Qt, Tcl, and the supported databases."
[ via NewsForge | Quasar Accounting finds move to open source adds up ]

That's the thing: Alone, best they could do was a clunky but functional package that would suit their customers so long as they were local to the partners and within reach of their expertise; now they have the benefit of many minds, many problem spaces, many channels of exertise who are also channels of potential sales leads.  read more »

Distros Violate the GPL?

Posted by garym on Thu, 01/27/2005 - 10:42

Are the Linux distributions violating the GPL? Sends a shiver down your spine, don't it. Ce n'est pas possible! Perhaps unthinkable, but nonetheless, it may be true, at least true for that handful of crews using a package manager to distribute their distro-harmonized binary-format bundles.

Allow me to explain ...

First off, so there's no mistake, let's establish our ground rules and quote from the source, from the GPL2 Terms and Conditions, section 3:

"... The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable."
GNU General Public License version 2

Ok, now, this says that if you distribute software, you must make the source available for free.

That means the source of the binary you are redistributing, including any patches you may have applied, the source code for the software you actually bundle.

Now here's where it maybe gets a little fuzzy, fuzzy enough for vendors to retain their proprietary edge while remaining inside the letter of the law if not it's spirit: C/C++ code is source, no question, and .h header files are also indisputably source code. So are Makefile and even configure.in and Makefile.in and herein the problem ... what about config.status?  read more »

283 Possible Patent Infringments

Posted by garym on Thu, 11/11/2004 - 09:56

Richard Stallman continues his Asian tour: Last Tuesday Richard teamed up with Sunil Abraham of the UNDP's IOSN in addressing the Singapore Management University on the threats and limitations of software patents.

For example, Stallman notes, while Linux accounts for only 0.25% of a typical GNU system, the kernel has already accummulated an estimated 283 possible patent infringments. Mr. Abraham added

'The current patent regime sharpens the economic divide, blocks access to life-saving medicines, stifles innovation, ignores traditional knowledge systems, and halts the progress of free/open software,'

[ via IT AsiaOne: Patenting of software stifles growth ]

283 Possible Patent Infringments

Posted by garym on Thu, 11/11/2004 - 09:56

Richard Stallman continues his Asian tour: Last Tuesday Richard teamed up with Sunil Abraham of the UNDP's IOSN in addressing the Singapore Management University on the threats and limitations of software patents.

For example, Stallman notes, while Linux accounts for only 0.25% of a typical GNU system, the kernel has already accummulated an estimated 283 possible patent infringments. Mr. Abraham added

'The current patent regime sharpens the economic divide, blocks access to life-saving medicines, stifles innovation, ignores traditional knowledge systems, and halts the progress of free/open software,'

[ via IT AsiaOne: Patenting of software stifles growth ]

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