Open Source Licensing and the App Store Model

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday March 12, 2011 @01:42PM from the free-as-in-mumblemumble dept.

snydeq writes "Savio Rodrigues sheds light on the limitations open source software faces in app stores, a problem that will only increase as the app store model proliferates. 'In effect, in the context of a GPLv2 license, an Apple App Store item that abides by Apple's terms of service is deemed to be restricting usage and imposing further limitation on usage rights than were envisioned by the original licensor of the open source code,' Rodrigues writes. 'Far from being an abstract example, this situation is precisely why the popular VLC media player was removed from the App Store.' Microsoft, for its part, disallows the use of GPLv2 altogether. 'With the vast amount of GPLv2 code available for use, the incompatibility between the App Store's (and Windows Marketplace's) terms of service on one hand and GPLv2 on the other is a problem in need of a fix.'"

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My app got booted from it as well by happyhacker7 · 2011-03-12 13:51 · Score: 0, Troll

Apple just boots everything they want,and apply double standards everywhere.
I for example wrote small application that allows you to create a list of items you are going to buy,
see how much money you will need, search the web for cheaper alternatives, and many more features.
You can see it on my blog.
I didn't even got a reason why it was removed.