MakerOfThings7:
Why is SOAPICS GPL? That really limits it's usage. Can you change it to LGPL?
http://soapics.codeplex.com/license
My application is proprietary, and the GPL license requires that I distribute source of my app if I simply link to this library. That's a no-go for me.
code poet:
There are many reasons that this, and other libraries, are GPL as opposed to LGPL.
You can find a really succinct summary at here.
The altruistic line is that the more free (as in speech as well as beer) software we publish under FLOSS licenses now, the more there will be in the future.
The pragmatic line, which is the one I tend to defer to, is that I am willing to pay forward the hundreds of hours and countless headaches (and those to come) that went into developing Soapi.CS. Anyone who is writing FLOSS, thus paying back and forward, is welcome to use the code without cost or restriction.
Proprietary, or closed source, software, is not 'free as in speech' and typically not 'free as in beer', and implies that the free (as in speech, definitely not as in beer) work that has been put into the library is being taken out of with nothing put back in.
But back to the pragmatic part:
It is my feeling that if someone wishes to use my work in proprietary or commercial software that, depending on the particular scenario, some type and degree of recompense is in order and that is where an LGPL exception comes into play.
Whether that be a simple thank you, a prominent attribution, a one time fee or a maintenance agreement etc all depends on the particular situation.
I encourage you (and anyone else) to email me directly at sky.sanders at gmail.com with salient details regarding your project and I am confident that satisfactory arrangements can be made.
Note: this is an issue of substance and should be discussed to the satisfaction of all and the form factor here, e.g. main post and cramped comments, does not lend itself well to that, so I will just carry on the conversation with you here in the main body, if you don't mind.
