From: Hubert Figuiere (hub@nyorp.abisource.com)
Date: Wed Mar 27 2002 - 11:34:23 EST
----- Forwarded message from owner-abiword-dev@abisource.com -----
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 18:52:06 -0600 (CST)
From: Abiword Mail <abiword@kinowin.zeddiclan.com>
To: <abiword-dev@abisource.com>
Subject: Re: Link Grammar (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0203261851520.14952-100000@kinowin.zeddiclan.com>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 18:51:42 -0600 (CST)
From: Jared Davis <jared@aiksaurus.com>
To: abiword@aiksaurus.com
Subject: Re: Link Grammar (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 15:25:37 -0500
From: David Temperley <dtemp@theory.esm.rochester.edu>
To: Jared Davis <jared@aiksaurus.com>
Cc: John Lafferty <lafferty@cs.cmu.edu>, sleator@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Re: Link Grammar
Jared -
Sorry for the ridiculously long delay in getting back to you.
We've been discussing the whole licensing issue. It looks like we're now
going to switch over to a totally free license, so that the code can be
used free-of-charge by anybody for anything (as long as they acknowledge
us). We'll make this official when we release the next version (which
we're hoping will be fairly soon). So, you should be able to use the
parser in your AbiWord project.
Davy
On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Jared Davis wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am writing to you on behalf of the AbiWord project. AbiWord is a Free word
> processor developed completely by volunteers. Our web site address is:
> http://www.abiword.org/
>
> Recently, we have been looking into adding a grammar checker to AbiWord. In
> our searching, we found your Link Grammar. Needless to say, your API is
> beautiful and would be easy to integrate with our project. There has been
> some real excitement over the idea that we might be able to add grammar
> checking so easily.
>
> We are, however, somewhat confused about all of the licensing issues that
> would result from this. I am, therefore, writing to you to see if we can
> come to some sort of an agreement that will work out for everyone.
>
> AbiWord is released under the GNU General Public License, and as a
> consequence we have a bit of a problem. The README.txt which
> accompanies your Link Grammar states:
>
> "We feel that our system (or a derivative of it) could be useful in a
> number of commercial applications. We would be pleased to discuss
> terms with those wanting to use our system in this way. Without an
> explicit agreement with the authors (listed below) such use is
> forbidden. By "commercial use" we mean selling a product or service."
>
> While the AbiWord project itself does not sell any product or service, our
> license allows others to modify AbiWord and even verbatim copies so long
> as their changes are released under the same license. As an example,
> Red Hat Linux (www.redhat.com) includes AbiWord on their CDs which are
> sold in stores.
>
> So, as far as we can tell, the inclusion of the Link Grammar in AbiWord would
> prevent Red Hat and others from doing this sort of thing. Unfortunately, the
> GPL requires that they have this freedom, so we cannot legally include the
> Link Grammar in AbiWord.
>
> However, if you would be willing, maybe a small change in the licensing of
> the Link Grammar would be enough to allow us to integrate it with AbiWord.
> In particular, a clause that explicitly permits using the Link Grammar
> without restriction in GPL software would solve all of these problems.
>
> This would not be a terribly unusual license. For example, TrollTech
> (www.trolltech.com) has a GUI toolkit called QT, which they sell to
> commercial development firms while maintaining a free version for GPL
> programs. Their toolkit has become the basis for a large body of software in
> the Free Software community, and is still making them a profit in the
> commercial arena.
>
> I understand that this is asking a lot, and the fear would probably be that
> potential customers would not purchase the link grammar. However, there may
> be advantages to consider as well. In particular, if AbiWord were able to
> use your Link Grammar, you would have a great example to show to any
> commercial developers who are interested in using it.
>
> For your reference, the complete text of the GNU General Public License is
> available from the GNU web site:
> http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
>
> Thank you very much for your time, I look forward to working with you on this.
>
> Jared Davis
>
> --
> Jared Davis
> jared@aiksaurus.com
> Love all, serve all.
>
----- End forwarded message -----
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