Today we discussed a question I came up with in the Chatterbox. I'd like to have more input by different monks, so here it goes.

I showed pVoice to a supplier of speech-devices and -software a while ago, and I noticed his eyes turning into dollarsigns when he saw the product. As he said it he "knows already 10 people who really want that rightaway". Beautiful, I said, "They can have it for free".
When I talked this over with my wife, she said (and I agreed with her) it would be a shame if a company like this walks away with the software, makes money out of it because he knows all the channels towards potential users and institutions, while these people may not know that it's available for free.

Of course I can contact people myself, go to institutions and therapists myself and tell them that this product is available at no cost at http://jouke.perlmonk.org, but that would take some time...

The first (pre)release of pVoice was/is under either the GPL (General Public License) or the Artistic License. I decided not to release any new versions until I sorted out what to do with the licensing issue. I want people who need this software to get it for free. I don't care if companies try to sell it, or supply it along with other products, but I want every end-user to have a fair chance of deciding wether to download it themselves or to buy it from such a company.

The bottomline of the chatterboxdiscussion was to release it under the GPL anyway, because a reseller would have to mention the source (and if I understood correctly, also the fact that it is available for free). What do you think would be the best possible way to achieve my goals?

Jouke Visser, Perl 'Adept'

In reply to Licensing your software by Jouke

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