The Big Picture

[WLatshaw]

I am just getting to know and love Joomla, and am sorry to see this divisive and very negative cloud over the release of 1.5. I fear that this decision to force the GPL issue will stymie development of the third party extensions that are the strength of Joomla, even more vital than the core program itself. As a designer, a client asked me to build him a real estate site.

Just when I had decided that we'd go with EZ Realty, I read the statement on her site that Joomla 1.5 will not be supported due to the GPL issue, along with the suggestion to switch to Mambo. Maybe it's an empty threat, and that position will be modified. But I am reluctant to build a site using a software setup that won't be supported going forward, so, though I really don't want to learn another CMS when I'm already working 15 hour days, I may do just that. It's not fair to the client to do otherwise.

After the softly worded statement on the home page, now I read things like "the core team doesn't care what you think", followed by statements to the effect of "if you don't like it, take a hike". That doesn't sound like "community building" to me.

The bottom line for me is: Let the market speak. Let the user community have the choice of all the free and commercial extensions. If the GPL can't work with commercial extensions, change it or dump it. The vitality of the Joomla ecosphere is far more important in the big picture that legal hair-splitting. We all know that the legal system is screwed, so work around it. License terms can be changed. This decision has far reaching consequences.

[Jenny]

I fear that this decision to force the GPL issue will stymie development of the third party extensions that are the strength of Joomla, even more vital than the core program itself.

Perhaps you don't mean that statement the way I have read it.  Are you saying that third party extensions are more vital than the core Joomla! program is?

[WLatshaw]

Heh, maybe I overstated that. What I meant is something to the effect that the whole is equal to more than the sum of the parts. The rich body of extensions that have grown up around the core program is what makes it so useful and able to fill a myriad of niches. I certainly don't mean to disparage the incredible work of all the development angels, though I believe that in this one instance, an important "wrong turn" is being made. The suggestion that 3PDs could go to a "hosted solutions" model, for example, just doesn't sound likely to me.

[Rogue4ngel]

The Joomla license can not be changed.  You see, Joomla is a fork of Mambo (I'm assuming you already knew this).  As being such, Joomla has to be licensed similarly.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could just toss out or not follow the laws we didn't like, or just change the way we do things to suit our own needs.  Unfortunately, things don't work that way.  For good reason I might add.

The rest, well, it's clear to see your upset because of the time and money it will obviously cost you.  Unfortunately, this is not Joomla's fault that the developer decided to discontinue their work based on something that was always in place (just not highlighted).

Joomla is a stand alone application, and the core team will continue to work on this project, just as they have in the past, and the extensions (while wonderful to have) will not change that.

Unfortunately, that doesn't help you.  In your situation, since the 3PD said they will continue develop for Mambo, it may be your only alternative.  At least, until something happens there and the developer decides to dump Mambo as well.

Your opinion is appreciated, but you may want to do a little more reading before you decide to make your first post.

[Jenny]

Hosted solutions aren't the only solution.  There are a number of other solutions for developers to work with. 

There has been the suggestions by  erickendrick http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic ... #msg915108 that is very workable.  It does involve 3PDs being actively involved in creating the code for the solution.  I think this would be the best solution for the community as a whole especially if 3PDs worked together to create that LGPL layer as a group with coding standards and flexibility. Not an easy task, but not an impossible task by any stretch. 

There is also the option for some to change their license to comply and adjust their business models accordingly. A number of 3PDs are already using a GPL compliant license/business model.

There are any number of ways that 3PDs could achieve compliance whether it means changing their license or changing how their code interacts with Joomla! to make it not derivative, or contributing to a solution that will be universal for all developers.    Any or all of these can be approached in a million different ways.

[brad]

This is also interesting: http://www.alledia.com/blog/interviews/ ... lnerd.org/

[Asphyx]

From: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,193856.0.html

Just when I had decided that we'd go with EZ Realty, I read the statement on her site that Joomla 1.5 will not be supported due to the GPL issue, along with the suggestion to switch to Mambo.

Perhaps you should point out to that developer of EZ Realty that Mambo is also GPL and the statements regarding permission to write proprietary extentions in the Faq only applies to Mambo suing them not any other GPL license holder of GPL code that Mambo uses...Which includes quite a few developers of Joomla.

[mcsmom]

After the softly worded statement on the home page, now I read things like "the core team doesn't care what you think", followed by statements to the effect of "if you don't like it, take a hike". That doesn't sound like "community building" to me.

The only people who are saying things like the quotes you have are a very small (and shrinking) group of 3PDs.