[wp-hackers] Plugin Licensing

[Piyush Mishra]

On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 2:51 PM, Ryan McCue <lists at rotorised.com> wrote:

> Piyush Mishra wrote:
> > Why would all contributors not agree?
> > [...]
> > The money can be used in making GSoC type internship oppurtunities, you
> can
> > hold free online tutorials.
> > People can be hired to complete the documentation and also to write
> > alternate WP cores for considering other possibilities and benchmarks.
> > WP can fund development of some plugins etc like BuddyPress...
> > We can have LTS versions with a closed paid group focusing on that. Core
> > plugins can be made possible etc etc etc...
> > Who would say no to that?
>
> I've contributed to WordPress, and I definitely wouldn't agree to it, so
> the developers would have to rewrite my code. Multiply that by all the
> developers that wouldn't agree to this (which is most of them), and
> you're essentially writing a new piece of software.
>
> You're missing the point of open source. Open source is more than just
> having the source code available to take. It's the ability to take that
> code, improve upon it and then contribute back to the community. I can
> take WordPress and rename it "Ryan's Awesome Blogging Software v4.2.6"
> if I want, and the GPL license affords me this ability.
>
> There's no reason people can't write documentation/plugins already. We
> (contributors) don't do it for the money, we do it as volunteer work. I
> profit from services I offer based on WordPress, so it's only fair to
> contribute back to the software. If you then go and close the source
> code, it means I can't contribute to the code, and if the source were
> closed, I wouldn't want to either.
>
> However, I'm sure someone much more eloquent than I can pipe up and give
> a better rationale about this.
>

I don't think you got the whole idea as I was trying to put it. The source
code remains open source and ready to contribute for people who already do
that and it will always be. Why would WordPress close its source anyway?
Its about those people who write plugins and go all heights to make it paid
only. They will have to pay WordPress community back in cash.

A lot of us pay back to the community in one way or the other.
But there are those who extend WordPress and sell their plugins.
Check this out:-
http://www.gravityforms.com/terms-and-conditions/
try getting the latest version of gforms and this one
http://www.gravityhelp.com/forums/topic/is-it-gpl (yes its true, css files
aren't covered).
My point is as WordPress users get helpless in such situations. we should
keep dual license to take care of that or take some action
(copyright infringement / demand giving php files out for free)

 --
> Ryan McCue
> <http://ryanmccue.info/>
>
> _______________________________________________
> wp-hackers mailing list
> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
>



-- 
Regards
Piyush Mishra
http://www.piyushmishra.com/
Life's Short, Live it to the maximum