Re: [linux-audio-dev] fst, VST 2.0, kontakt

From: Luis Garrido <luisgarrido@email-addr-hidden>
Date: Sat Jul 01 2006 - 18:43:42 EEST

> LinuxSampler is not free software or open source software.
>

(sigh, must we, really?)

It depends on who you choose to side with.

As defined by the FSF, no, it is not free software. If you use the
freebeerian definition, "you don't have to pay its authors to use it",
yes, it is.

As defined by the OSI it is not open source, either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Definition

According to other definitions by the Wikipedia it is very much indeed
open source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_license
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_vs._free_software

OTOH rumour has it that this may change, not sure in which direction,
so it may be healthy to be cautious. In the end, there is always the
possibility of forking version 0.3.3 which is pure GPL and call it
HurdSoftSampler or SuftSampler (pun intended) or something like that
XD

Anyway, the rationale behind this restriction is quite understandable:
the guys are afraid that a third party could make a commercial profit
of their work without giving anything back to the OS community. It has
happened before to other projects.

http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=12912656

Peace,

Luis
Received on Sat Jul 1 20:15:03 2006

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Jul 01 2006 - 20:15:03 EEST