[GRASS5] Re: [Fwd: whinging about GRASS again]

Jack Varga jvarga at boulder.net
Wed Feb 2 13:37:48 EST 2005


Let me preface this with my understanding.  Correct me please (nicely) 
if I'm wrong.  A binary application can have in its EULA that the 
application can be freely distributed, without royalty, indefinitely. 
Yet it can be available without source code, (as many applications are), 
or a clause that says it is illegal to reverse engineer (for whatever 
that's worth ;-).  If the source code is NOT ALSO freely available, does 
that mean that the application itself is not in the public domain? 
Surely it does not.

If so, what is the OSI's definition of "public domain"?

Jack Varga wrote:
> Russell Nelson wrote:
> 
>> Public domain software is open source software.  
> 
> 
> Since when?
> 
> Several "public domain" applications (e.g., Trumpet Winsock, PKZip, 
> ArcExplorer, etc.) exist whose binary executable is available for free 
> to anyone who wants to download it, while the source is not disclosed. 
> While these applications are in the public domain, their source code is 
> definitely not.  Open source is a subclass of public domain.  That is, 
> their source code is in the public domain in addition to their binary 
> executables.
> 
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