The Obligatory Bi-monthly "Is Radiant Free" Thread Started-up Again Today

Yes, it's started again - the obligatory bi-monthly "Is Radiant Free" thread kicked-off today. Once again the GPL license is being used as a blanket of protection against what seems to be a commercial tool.


"But it's GLP'ed!"

To the surprise of many GPL is not a license for providing free software - it's a license designed to keep the software's source code open and available (hence open source).

While I don't claim to be a legal expert, version 2 of the GPL license clearly states that the license does not extend to usage of the software or to files generated by the software:

"Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program)."

What does this mean? Is the Radiant commercial license still in full effect and referring only to the usage of Radiant, and the GPL license to the code - ei: only the source is free, not usage of the product?

This type of licensing seems to be common nowadays as more and more open source companies are trying to build businesses out of their products (understandably). A good example of this is MySQL, though it uses a dual licensing scheme - and it's not free. ;) So what's the deal?

-John