Qt open source licensing changed
[Posted January 13, 2016 by ris]
| From: |
| "Kate Gliven" <k.gliven-AT-pinnaclemarcom.com> |
| To: |
| lwn-AT-lwn.net |
| Subject: |
| PR: Qt open source licensing changed and product structure updated to strengthen community... |
| Date: |
| Wed, 13 Jan 2016 06:18:42 -0500 |
| Message-ID: |
| <23abd02d9a1341759dc6e809aabc73ef@pinnaclemarcom.com> |
Qt open source licensing changed and product structure updated to strengthen
community and extend adoption
Helsinki--- 13 January 2016 – The Qt Company has announced changes to the
open source licensing and product structure of the Qt cross-platform
application development framework that will further strengthen the Qt
community and make additional functionality available to software developers
using the open source license. A new “start-up” license has also been
announced that will help small businesses that want to utilize Qt in
commercial desktop and mobile applications.
The Qt ecosystem -- consisting of around one million software developers
creating cross-platform applications, UIs, and devices in over 70 industries
-- is built upon a dual licensing model. This model has now been updated to
support the needs of modern application development and ensure the continued
growth of Qt. In turn, Qt users will be able to better determine the need for
commercial licensing and have clear understanding of open source
obligations.
Qt open source licensing is based on the principles of the Free Software
movement. To ensure the existence of open source Qt, The Qt Company and KDE
Free Qt Foundation have updated the existing licensing agreement that
guarantees the availability of Qt under open source licenses. The agreement
with KDE Free Qt Foundation, which was established in 1998, now includes new
licensing options and covers all of today’s ubiquitous desktop and mobile
platforms.
Juha Varelius, The Qt Company CEO, commented: “The open source community
has been fundamental to the development of Qt and we want to ensure that
developers who choose this route can continue to fully benefit from, and
contribute to, advances in Qt. In order to achieve this, it is important to
preserve investment in development with contributions from those using the
framework commercially.”
President of KDE e.V., Lydia Pintscher said, “Today Qt is an essential part
of many products. With the updated agreement, we continue to ensure that Qt
remains available for a long time to come on a wide variety of platforms.
Today’s announcement not only safeguards the open source Qt community but
also provides access to new functionality that has been developed within the
commercial space."
New versions of Qt will be licensed under a commercial license, GPLv2, GPLv3,
and LGPLv3, but no longer under LGPLv2.1. The updated open source licenses
better ensure end user freedom when using open source licensed versions of
Qt. LGPLv3 explicitly forbids the distribution of closed embedded devices.
Distributing software under these terms includes a patent grant to all
receivers of the software. Commercial Qt licensing removes these requirements
and includes professional technical support from The Qt Company.
Along with the updated licensing scheme, The Qt Company will streamline the
Qt product structure (starting with Qt 5.7) by providing many formerly closed
Qt APIs and tools in the Open Source offering, as well. This will also open
up these parts of Qt for contributions by the active open source Qt
community. Consequently, all Qt users will enjoy improved quality and faster
innovation of the Qt framework and tools. Existing commercial licensees will
benefit from these improvements without changes to their product or licensing
terms. Users who comply with open source obligations now have new features,
such as charting, data visualization, virtual keyboard and advanced
profiling, available to them.
In addition to these product structure and licensing changes, The Qt Company
will be providing a commercial licensing solution for small businesses with
annual revenue less than $100K, which will make commercial Qt application
development on desktop and mobile platforms more feasible. This
“start-up” license, for full use of Qt for Application Development, will
be introduced during Q1 2016.
About The Qt Company
The Qt Company, a subsidiary of Digia Plc. (NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange
-DIG1V) is responsible for Qt product development, commercialization and
licensing under commercial and open-source licenses. Used by around 1 million
developers worldwide, Qt is a C++ based framework of libraries and tools that
enables the development of powerful, interactive and cross-platform
applications and devices. Qt’s support for multiple desktop, embedded and
mobile operating systems allows developers to save significant time related
to application and device development by simply reusing one code. Industry
leaders such as Navico, ABB, Pitney Bowes, Thales, Michelin, Magneti Marelli
and Sennheiser power their products with Qt for their in-vehicle devices,
industrial automation applications and mission-critical systems. The Qt
Company operates in China, Finland, Germany, Korea, Norway, Russia and USA.
Code less. Create more. Deploy everywhere. To learn more visit http://qt.io.
# # #
Contacts for Editorial Enquiries
The Qt Company
Katja Kumpulainen, Vice President, Marketing
+358 40 7222829 katja.kumpulainen@theqtcompany.com
Pinnacle Marketing Communications
Nevena Rasic +44 (0) 2084 296 541 n.rasic@pinnaclemarcom.com
January 2016 Ref: DQ165/A
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