Re: [Access-activists] New member with a big project

[Christian Hofstader]

We do not require compatibility with GPL as long as the license used by a 
program protects the four freedoms as described on www.fsf.org. The Eclipse 
license is a full free software license but, as is the case with APache and 
some other major free software licenses, they are not compatible with GPL for 
one reason or another. Once a project gets out into the wild with a free 
software license, it is very difficult to change the terms and licenses as it 
would be impossible to get all potential contributors to sign off on the 
change. If you add a single line of code, you did so under the current license 
and, as much of this happens anonymously, getting everyone to sign off on a 
license change is just plain silly.

All GNU work carries GPL 2 or higher and most new work we do carries GPL 3 or 
higher but we work on projects with people who use other free software licenses 
as well as the basic freedoms are preserved.

cdh
On Sep 1, 2010, at 10:50 AM, Jamal Mazrui wrote:

> I wish the best for the BrailleBlaster project.  I am curious, however,
> whether the plan to use Eclipse as a platform will be a problem for GNU
> support.  As far as I can tell, official statements on both the GNU and
> Eclipse web sites say that the GPL (2 or 3) is incompatible with the
> Eclipse Public License:
> 
> Various Licenses and Comments about Them
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html 
> 
> Eclipse Public License (EPL) Frequently Asked Questions
> http://www.eclipse.org/legal/eplfaq.php 
> 
> Can anyone clarify this issue?
> 
> Jamal
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: address@hidden
> [mailto:address@hidden On Behalf
> Of Christian Hofstader
> Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 5:42 AM
> To: address@hidden
> Subject: Re: [Access-activists] New member with a big project
> 
> It's great to have John here and continuing to work  in  the free
> software community. BrailleBlaster is indeed very exciting and the
> people who make proprietary Braille software are terrified of the Lib
> Louis library that is already out there and forms the foundation for the
> new program and are really shaking over the Java application.
> 
> Do we have a link to which we can point John regarding the vocabulary of
> GNU and why we say, "GNU/Linux" and "free software" instead of "open
> source" and such? I hurt too much to get into retyping any of it.
> 
> cdh
> Welcome to our world John!
> 
> On 08/26/2010 04:30 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
>> Some of you know about me and the project I am announcing. The 
>> BrailleBlaster project is written in Java, using SWT. Its braille 
>> engine is liblouisutdml which succeeds liblouisxml and calls liblouis.
> 
>> Here is the announcement.
>> 
>> --------------------
>> 
>> This is an announcement of an exciting new software development 
>> project that will greatly increase the availability and usability of
> Braille.
>> For full details go to http://code.google.com/p/brailleblaster Since 
>> this is an open source project, you are invited to participate. We 
>> need transcribers and technical writers as well as programmers.
>> 
>> BrailleBlaster will be excellent for translating and formatting 
>> braille and inserting tactile graphics and hence release a blast of
> braille.
>> 
>> It will be very user-friendly for non-technical users but also 
>> powerful enough for experts.
>> 
>> Naive users will be able easily to compose simple documents and then 
>> translate and emboss them in braille or read them on a braille
> display.
>> 
>> Advanced users will be able to divide books into multiple braille 
>> volumes, with title pages, tables of contents, and end-notes for each 
>> volume.
>> 
>> The BrailleBlaster project should be completed within less than two 
>> years.
>> 
>> BrailleBlaster will be fully usable in speech or braille by people who
> 
>> are blind.
>> 
>> It will be designed for Windows, MacIntosh, and Linux operating 
>> systems and common screenreaders
>> 
>> It will have visual display controls that make it maximally accessible
> 
>> for users with low vision and other visual disabilities.
>> 
>> It will be localized into most major languages.
>> 
>> BrailleBlaster will be developed under the Apache 2.0 license, which 
>> permits broad use, including use in commercial software.
>> 
>> BrailleBlaster's sponsors are ViewPlus Technologies, Inc. and 
>> Abilitiessoft, Inc. They will hold the license copyright.
>> 
>> 
> 
> --
> Happy Hacking,
> cdh
> 
> Christian Hofstader
> Director of Access Technology
> FSF/Project GNU
> http://www.gnu.org, http://www.fsf.org
> GNU's Not Unix!
> 
> 
>