[sword-devel] GPL 3 licencing issues

[jonathon]

Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:

> If BibleCS and BibleDesktop disappeared people could just start
> using other programs, like e-sword.

People might not even notice that they had disappeared from
Windows. There are a plethora of free (gratis) Bible Study
programs, and almost as many commercially distributed programs.

> But for Linux BibleTime, GnomeSword (and BibleDesktop) are the only
> options - at least I don't know any other. 

If there are any others, they haven't made it into any of
the Linux distributions. [With three Linux distributions
orientated towards Christians,I'd expect any others to be in
at least one of them.]

> This becomes even more important if Linux user base grows in the third world. 

Imagine your preacher having a KJV that did not contain a
concordance, cross references, or any textual apparatus.
Change the translation, and you are describing the standard
Bible for minority languages everywhere.

> but only if we are thinking about our user base in Western countries.

+1

How many people realize that the study tools included in
GnomeSword are more comprehensive than the tools that Bible
College graduates in some third world countries own?

#########

The other issues are:

* What will happen to the programs for the various PDA
platforms?

* What are the odds of a vendor hijacking a PDA version into
a commercial program?

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Does anybody have a list of Bible Study Software that is
distributed under the GNU GPL, or other Open Source Licence?

xan

jonathon