I think this thread is long enough that I should post a summary of the events so far. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I will only try to post facts, not my personal opinions, as to not continue this flame war. I will edit this with corrections if need be, and will clearly state if it's editted or not.
1) This all started when TheIndividual posted e-mails from Sveasoft (as of yet unverified, but commensurate with Sveasoft's other communications with members of this forum) onto an anonymous website, along with a binary of the pre-release Alchemy pre5.1 firmware that he got from someone else. Sveasoft started this thread accusing TheIndividual of violating the GPL and defaming Sveasoft.
2) It is clear that the firmware (pre-release or not) is distributed under the GPL, which allows for the free redistribution of both binaries (w/source) and source code. Sveasoft explicitly allows this redistribution of pre-release firmwares as posted in their FAQ here: »
www.sveasoft.com/modules ··· 96f84eaa3) Sveasoft also states that if a subscriber redistributes pre-release firmwares, they will lose their subscription. Some people have argued that this goes against the GPL, but the FSF has decided this is *not* a violation.
4) Sveasoft can track the subscribers who redistribute their binaries by attaching some kind of tag to each firmware binary (as demonstrated by the different MD5 sums found so far). This makes sense, considering Sveasoft thought TheIndividual was someone else at first. Arno Nym has done some work to try to find what the unique identifier is. It is unknown wether this is allowed under the GPL.
5) Neither subscribers nor non-subscribers have any right to future code Sveasoft has not yet released. It is "his" code, and he can choose not to distribute it. But once he does distribute it, wether publicly or privately to his subscribers, it is under the GPL and is free for *anyone* to redistribute.
6) Sveasoft has changed their minds about offering the source code as a free download, and now only offers it on a CD sent through the mail for a price of $50. This seems to be a violation of the GPL, but we need to hear back from the FSF about that.
The main problems people in this forum have with Sveasoft is *not* that they charge $20 for a subscription. It's because of the following:
Sveasoft has accused several people of "pirating" the Sveasoft pre-release firmware and posting it online illegally, and has had websites shut down because of this. This is unbelievable considering Sveasoft says they allow this (see above).
Sveasoft is also ending the subscriptions (but refunding their money) of people who have posted their MD5 sums of the binaries. It says nowhere in the subscriber contract that they can't do this.
There have been a couple of nasty e-mail exchanges between forum members (TheIndividual, joakimsen) and Sveasoft. Sveasoft acts almost holier-than-thou (IQ 170) and seems to think the GPL doesn't apply to him [disclaimer: my personal opinion].
Sveasoft is now charging $50 for the source code, which is just rediculous considering it costs almost nothing to distribute it over the internet.
