RE: Discussion about licenses, copyrights, business, and source code

[Emmanuel Mayssat <emayssat@epicsqt.org>]

> for a customer under NDA [3]. That's enough for many companies to

> generate revenue. Of course OSS requires a bit different business model
> than selling proprietary software but you can still generate revenue
> (Cosylab for example does).

What I have in mind is not so much what we see, but rather what we don't see.
Let me illustrate.
Why is data collection and data analysis clearly separated?
Could it be that data collection is done with GPL-like software and data analysis use 'patented' algorithms?
Would beamline users benefit from having an almost real-time analysis of their collected data?
Possibly for high-throughput something (PX?).

So what if Cosylab approaches a 3rd party to integrate a patented data analysis algorithm into CSS?
Could the scientific community benefit? Who knows we will never see this!

This is obviously a pure thought experiment.
Also note that CSS may already allows this. I don't know. I can't find its license.
That brings another question.
Who decides the license to use in the case of a software collaboration?

Regards,
--
Emmanuel