qt/kde relationship question
 

hi-

I am kind of a new user. I have suse 9.3 running dual boot w/windows. Before i invest anymore time using it i was wondering if someone could clear up something for me.

i hope this makes sense.

i am trying to learn a little about the kde/qt relationship.
i started to learn suse w/kde. i like it.
then in open pr @ suse it said they were switching emphasis to gnome.
some people talked about license issues. so i went to
wikipedia.org to read up on it.

from the wikipedia:
"The terms and conditions of the GPL are available to anybody receiving a copy of the GPLed work ("the licensee"). Any licensee who adheres to the terms and conditions is given permission to modify the work, as well as to copy and redistribute the work or any derivative version. The licensee is allowed to charge a fee for this service, or do this free of charge. This latter point distinguishes the GPL from software licenses that prohibit commercial redistribution."

i read the history of kde and it said that qt which is also gpl was used in developing kde.

to get to the point i have questions: 1. can qt really charge a fee if i develop a kde application?
2. what exactly would a kde application be?

kde is a desktop and this confuses me. for example an accounting software package is an application or a text editor is another example of an application. how is kde related to a text editor someone might develop?

if i understand why qt could charge me for something commercial i develop i would understand this a little better.

it seems that if qt started charging people or even conceivably could then developers would use gnome and no software in linux would be made for kde anymore. that is problematic for the future of kde? is this an issue?

thanks for any help,
jim

hi again-

i think i am getting an answer now. kde is a desktop environment AND a development platform. one name for 2 things. ok. that makes a little more sense. and when you develop with the kde development platform you can use qt. so if i am thinking about this correctly, use kde the desktop and dont worry. can people use the kde desktop and build something in java, python or php and make something commercial out of it? is it only a development platform issue and that is separate from anything to do with the desktop?

thanks,
jim

yes. i think that is it. bottom line. use kde (desktop) open source gpl -- good --no problems.
if you see qt (trolltech) anywhere when developing an application you may need to evaluate if your application needs a commercial vs an open source license. if it does need a commercial license you can buy it from troll tech.

is it that simple? cant be .

Clearly not an intro... moved to Linux - Newbie