> Qt is developed as a true open source project.
Apart from when they deliberately withhold features from the Open Source releases.
https://www.qt.io/blog/the-new-qt-quick-compiler-is-coming-i...
Apart from when they deliberately withhold features from the Open Source releases.
https://www.qt.io/blog/the-new-qt-quick-compiler-is-coming-i...
The terrible part is where if you pay for a commercial license to use it in a proprietary application, you can't stand within 50 feet of the LGPL version.
https://www.qt.io/terms-conditions/:
“Prohibited Combination” shall mean any effort to use, combine, incorporate, link or integrate Licensed Software with any software created with or incorporating Open Source Qt, or use Licensed Software for creation of any such software.
So you can't use KDE to write a program that links against the proprietary QT libraries.
The way I read it that's fine, it's the other way around that's forbidden - you're not allowed to use the commercial-licensed version to work on KDE.
To repeat myself, “Prohibited Combination” shall mean any effort to use, combine, incorporate, link or integrate Licensed Software with any software created with or incorporating Open Source Qt.
make it fully truly open source, charge premium for those who need your professional service to make profits, then it will fly to the sky.
I agree though that some licensing changes would really help them grow. I think they've hurt long term adoption in exchange for short term revenue. I don't blame them, baby needs new shoes after all, but as a huge fan of Qt I would love to see them become a standard. The product is good enough that they deserve it, but the license can be a bit scary for people who aren't already familiar with it.
LGPL isn't really that onerous though..
However, new modules in Qt 6 and any rewrites of modules Qt 5-> 6are now GPL, which is rather copy-left and will spread to the rest of your code.
That's very surprising, it would make upgrading from Qt 5 to Qt 6 a no-no for the small companies who use Qt LGPL. I'm sure they want to keep developer mindshare. Which LGPL Qt 5 modules became GPL in Qt 6?
How exactly does that work? Why would the company invest a lot in the library if they can just offer professional services without it? For example, KDAB already offer professional services around Qt and do not need to spend much in R&D.