SUN Binary Code License

[Rick Moen]

begin Steve Mallett quotation:

> What the heck is a SUN Binary Code License?  I went to install
> StarOffice & when I got to the license agreement I froze.

Star Office 5.2 (which Sun acquired when it bought StarDivision) is
gratis-usage proprietary code.  _That_ version will remain so.  But:

[quoting Sun:]

> "...We will offer the StarOffice source code."

And they were as good as their word -- and then some.  That refers to
the OpenOffice project, which is developing the Open Office 6.0
successor to the Star Office 5.2 codebase (http://www.openoffice.org/).
The library and component-framework code released by Sun (from
StarDivision's codebase) is LGPLed.  Other code is dual-licensed under
GPL and the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL).

Please note that the 5.2 source code was never released to the public
under _any_ terms, and presumably never will be.  Third-party rights are 
involved.  

More about the project's licensing, here:
http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/main_faq_new.html

The 6.0 codebase is, at this date, pretty alpha-ish.  But it's usable if
you're... very adventuresome.

-- 
Cheers,             You can't lick the system -- but you can certainly
Rick Moen           give it a damned good fondling....
rick at linuxmafia.com