[LINK] Code-Closed then Open then Back to Closed

[Kim Holburn]

On 2006 Aug 06, at 12:14 AM, Howard Lowndes wrote:
> Kim Holburn wrote:
>> A New Direction for Open-Source Software
>> http://www.newsfactor.com/news/New-Direction-for-Open-Source- 
>> Software/story.xhtml?story_id=010000BQZFO4
>>> It's not surprising that some open-source software companies  
>>> consider closing their source code, said Dennis Cox, chief  
>>> technical officer at BreakingPoint Systems, a company that tests  
>>> I.T. security tools. Traditional open-source licenses require  
>>> developers to give software improvements and fixes back to the  
>>> open-source community for free. Closing the code and selling  
>>> future versions or becoming the official supplier of support  
>>> services can be profitable, Cox said.
>
> This strikes me as the key point.  If users have made and  
> contributed changes to the code, and provided their copyrightable  
> changes under the GPL, then either it cannot be included in the,  
> now closed, code, or there is a breach of the GPL.

Well, not all "open source" projects use the GPL.  If you contribute  
to an OSS project you have to be careful about the project license  
and how it covers your work.

-- 
Kim Holburn
Security Manager, National ICT Australia Ltd.
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