[wp-hackers] Premium plugin protection

[Andy Charrington-Wilden]

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These are honest questions. I know for some reason they annoy some people on the list, but the requests for clarity which is a great thing can be annoying.  
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Thank you. You put it much better than me!

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Based on these examples it seems that maybe businessman who doesn't really care about the ethos of the GPL and who don't worry about the good graces of the core community can easily run a plugin business that bypasses the GPL by appealing to the masses who pay no attention to the politics of the GPL?
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Can we not do both? I for one rate the community approval very high in my priorities. However I would also like to be a good businessman! 

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I'd actually love to hear what those who are not supporting the GPL have to say about it, and I'm also curious why Matt hasn't publicly campaigned against them like he campaigned against Thesis?
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Someone earlier said that that taking a stance on premium plugins is not matts concern (words to that effect) and i believe they are right. however i agree that a stance on whether plugins have to be gpl or not would be very interesting. 
I am not against the gpl however thinking about this topic has given me an insight (of sorts) to those who are 'against' it. If i were to circumnavigate the gpl (not saying i will....) i would be doing it in order to protect the product in order to maximise profit. The more control i have over the code (and the less control developers have) the more money can be made. I am not condoning this but i am also not arguing against it. It is no doubt against the ethos of open source and therefor the community but it is also good business sense...... Again, it would be good if we could do both...... Maybe people already do? Maybe the issue of non gpl plugins is null? Maybe plugins can be both gpl compliant and potentially profitable long term?

>> BTW, don't shoot the messenger; I'm not advocating for or against GPL. I'm only advocating for fact-based clarity.

Ditto!

Sent from my iPad

On 13 Dec 2010, at 00:47, "Philip M. Hofer \(Frumph\)" <philip at frumph.net> wrote:

> Get him to make a statement on that fact.  Otherwise its just heresay.
> 
> 
> - Phil
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Schinkel" <mikeschinkel at newclarity.net>
> To: <wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com>
> Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 4:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [wp-hackers] Premium plugin protection
> 
> 
>> On Dec 12, 2010, at 7:28 PM, Michael Torbert wrote:
>>> Most are.  iThemes, Gravity Forms, All in One SEO Pack - Pro, Shopp, and Getshopped are
>>> all definitely GPL.
>>> Also, both versions of All in One SEO Pack explicitly are GPL.
>> 
>> Thanks for the clarity.
>> 
>>> BTW, if it isn't explicitly stated that it's a different (GPL-compatible)
>>> license, it is GPL by default.
>> 
>> As applied to what?  All plugins?  Or something else?
>> 
>> If the former, I have at least one attorney who is one of the leading intellectual property attorneys in Atlanta who has given me his opinion otherwise. FWIW.
>> 
>> BTW, don't shoot the messenger; I'm not advocating for or against GPL. I'm only advocating for fact-based clarity.
>> 
>> -Mike
>> 
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