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Message-ID: <89046CC4-3A0C-11D9-9929-000393D3D676@unsw.edu.au>
Date: 2004-11-19T09:22:29Z
From: Bill Northcott
Subject: The hidden costs of GPL software?
In-Reply-To: <200411181113.iAIB6XId020702@hypatia.math.ethz.ch>

>       If the GPL were not so tight on this point, someone could
> commercialize a GUI for R without having to offer their source code
> under the GPL.
>
There is nothing in GPL to stop a commercial GUI for R.  Have a look at 
what Apple do.  They have a complete commercial GUI and numerous 
applications built on a an almost completely GPL'ed operating system.  
There are loads of shareware GUIs which drive GPL utilities.  Most 
obviously there are plenty of commercial apps which run on GNU Linux.

Bill Northcott