Author: Georg v. Zimmermann
Date: 14:07:47 03/21/00
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Thanks a lot for your very helpfull replies, guys. I read them a couple of times and would like to comment on some things : ---- 1.) The "you only changed a small amount of the code" point > This may not be a good example, but.... Let's say you wanted to translate the > Bible but since the King James version was so good you decided just to do > orginal translation of about the 5 per cent you thought needed clarity. Now, > could you say it was your translation or just a modification? (Jay Rinde) > I may try some 'rule of thumb' here: If you wrote more, than, say, 50% of code > yourself, and the rest is based on some open source, you could say "[my > program], based (originated) on [that program]". (Andrew Dados) Ok but If I look at cars in the streets they are named "BMW" and "Nissan" and "GM" and "Ford" and not "A Benz with some modifications by BMW" or "A Benz with some modifications by Ford" even though Benz invented the automobile and the basic concepts are still the same ? Is there really a big difference between using someone elses code (if you understand it completely - good point "Werner") and rewriting it - "stealing" only the idea ? Dann Corbit says so, maybe you can explain why you say that ? ---- 2.) You might want to ask yourself: does the program NEED a different name ? (GCP) Yes, because it plays in a completely different style! And when it plays matches against the original it makes sense to have a different name, yes ? ---- 3.) About the Open Source Concept > I'm not trying to say there is anything wrong with having a competitive > element. But if it's that what you are interested in, Open Sourcing the > program (I assume you're actually talking about GPL'ed software ?) is > definetely NOT the way to go. (GCP) I think I'm not the only one who plans to release "his" program one day, but who first wants to see how it does against the competition, and prove that they accomplished something, maybe invented something new. I believe IMHO that this is a normal human behaviour ? > However, there is another issue for you to consider. By starting > your project from a GPL program, your modified version is also GPL. This > means that if you ever give your version away (or sell it) to > the public, you must make the source code of your version available > to the public. (Dann Homan) Hmm.. one more question: can the the author of the original make a "special" non GPL version of his program for me so that I don't have to release the source if I give the modified program to people ? ---- 4.) 3 more words. I don't want to be understood wrong. I'm not planning to do as if I had done all the work. I would never even consider this because the originals authour is a real NICE guys who helped me a lot and was always been very patient even though I'm a very poor programmer. Thanks again for all the input, Georg
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