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____/ Matt on Friday 10 April 2009 14:28 : \____
>
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/03/first-look-qt-45-rocks-for-rapid-cross-platform-development.ars
>
>> By Ryan Paul | Last updated March 4, 2009 8:15 PM CT
>> The cost of the commercial license created a steep barrier to entry for
>> proprietary developers who wanted to adopt the toolkit. Nokia changed this
>> in January when the company announced plans to transition the Qt codebase to
>> the permissive LGPL license which would broadly enable proprietary
>> development without a commercial license. That move is a serious
>> game-changer for Qt as it eliminates the primary impediment that has
>> traditionally compelled major software makers to use GTK+ or other
>> alternatives. Qt 4.5 is the first major version of the toolkit to be
>> released under the LGPL.
>
>
> This is great news.
>
> Unless I am wrong:
>
> * Commercial developers no longer have to choose between OSes.
>
> * Previously all Qt developers including FOSS developers were stuck with
> whatever Trolltech/Nokia offered. Unless I am wrong it is now possible
> to fork Qt, so that nobody need fear that Nokia's Qt development will be
> monopolized, unresponsive, or stunted.
>
> * Collaboration among companies and individuals can now produce LGPL'ed
> libraries that use Qt, and both FOSS and commercial code can use such
> LGPL'ed libraries freely.
>
> * Formerly, a commercial developer had to buy a license for each
> programmer for each platform the programmer was working on, and they
> weren't cheap---over $500 each if I recall.
>
> * Some FOSS is former commercial software for which the developers
> couldn't make enough money selling licenses. They GPL the code and try
> to sell a support package. So reducing the cost of commercial
> development (in this case giving Qt away for commercial use) can lead to
> more FOSS as well as more commercial software.
Yes, the news about Qt was /very/ welcome at the time. Watch the KDE blogs from
that period. The Wintel press may try to characterise this in bad light.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | GPL'd 3-D Othello: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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