From: Dom Lachowicz (doml@appligent.com)
Date: Wed Mar 27 2002 - 11:36:15 EST
WOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
On Wed, 2002-03-27 at 11:34, Hubert Figuiere wrote:
> ----- 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>
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> Sender: Abiword Mail <abiword@aiksaurus.com>
>
>
>
> ---------- 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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