[WEB4LIB] Re: how to get it all done

[Alnisa Allgood]

At 8:39 AM -0700 4/22/05, Joshua Ferraro wrote:
>And regardless of whether a system is built on open source tools, it's
>proprietary when the code is closed. EE may be a great product, but
>what will happen to it if pMachine decides not to continue development
>on it? If it was open source, it's users could simply find another
>software team to continue.
>

Reading is fundamental.  As I said, EE isn't proprietary software 
(strictly speaking). The code is open and accessible, it's just not 
developed as an open source project.  Expression Engine is 
commercial, just as Red Hat  Linux and MySQL are commercial. There's 
a difference.  The terms of its software modification are...

Software Modification
You may alter, modify, or extend the software for your own use, or 
commission a third-party to perform modifications for you, but you 
may not resell, redistribute or transfer the modified or derivative 
version without prior written consent from pMachine Inc. Components 
from ExpressionEngine Software may not be extracted and used in other 
programs without prior written consent from pMachine Inc.

If something were to happen to the pMachine staff, there are numerous 
people who could continue development and or modification of the 
system; if an organization so wanted to.  As I said, don't equate 
open source with free; but also acknowledge that the playground 
includes far more options than just open source vs proprietary 
software.

Alnisa