On Wed, Sep 17, 2003 at 06:21:21PM +0530, Kamal R Prasad wrote:
> 
> Can someone explain the finer points of where BSD license wins over GPL 
> esp when modifying the kernel [for some proprietry work -which may or 
may 
> not reach a customer]?

>What do you mean by "wins"? If you mean mean that you want to develop 
>proprietry software, it's hard to find a place where the BSD license
>doesn't win (except possibly in the advertising clause). 

wins meaning - a good reason to opt for writing stuff in the BSD 
environment rather than in Linux. The folks Im working with are familiar 
with Linux, not with *BSD and I have to give them a good reason why the 
GPL won't do.

>You may use all the BSD-licensed code you like in proprietry software,
>but it is only possible to do the same with the GPL if you go through 
>some exotic contortions: the code in question is a good example.

>Unless you are more specific, it will be hard for anyone else to talk 
>about fine points at all.

We are working on a prototype -which may or may not have commercial value.
If the prototype is viable -the company charges money from others for 
using the functionality [src code not revealed]. If not, we still do not 
want to give away the src code -but may not earn any money in doing so. 
The GPL probably makes things difficult in the first case, but is 
equivalent to the BSD license in the 2nd case [ie no obligation to reveal 
the in-house development to anybody]. If this isn't the case, pl. clarify.

thanks
-kamal

-- 
Bruce J.A. Nourish <bjan+public@bjan.net> http://bjan.net