Rekall and associated software go 100% GPL

[John Dean]

Hi

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that Rekall, the cross-platform
alternative to MS Access, is now totally GPL. So please visit
http://www.totalrekall.co.uk and download download a copy for yourself. In
order for you to be able to download you must register with the Total Rekall
Portal. The reason we have have made this a requirement is because we would
like to be able to notify everybody when a new version becomes available. We
are presently working on V2.2.0 and I am sure you would not like to miss
out.

You should also be aware that in order for for us to continue the future
development of Rekall we will have to charge for technical support,
customisation, training and consulting, therefore, now that we have gone
wholly GPL, you will have to take out a technical support subscription. I
will post information relating to support levels and pricing once we worked
out the detail. In the meantime may I suggest that you sign up to our
mailing list. Instructions can be found at the bottom of the home page.

 

[Tim Churches]

Hi

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that Rekall, the cross-platform
alternative to MS Access, is now totally GPL. So please visit
http://www.totalrekall.co.uk and download download a copy for yourself.

This is most welcome news, but in the light of the recent, often
confusing (or confused) discussion on this list over Rekall and the
Kompany, could Shawn Gordon please comment on this announcement?

--

Tim C

PGP/GnuPG Key 1024D/EAF993D0 available from keyservers everywhere
or at http://members.optushome.com.au/tchur/pubkey.asc
Key fingerprint = 8C22 BF76 33BA B3B5 1D5B EB37 7891 46A9 EAF9 93D0



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[Tim Churches]

This has nothing to do with Shawn or TKC.
Mike Richardson will be making a joint statement shortly which Shawn has
agreed to put his name to.

I beg to differ, given that Rekall was (or still is) being sold by the
Kompany, which tends to imply ownership of the intellectual property
associated with Rekall, or at least some sort of licensing arrangement
with its owners. Hence, it does have a lot to do with the Kompany, and
we would-be Rekall users look forward to a communication from the
president of the Kompany on this matter.
--

Tim C

PGP/GnuPG Key 1024D/EAF993D0 available from keyservers everywhere
or at http://members.optushome.com.au/tchur/pubkey.asc
Key fingerprint = 8C22 BF76 33BA B3B5 1D5B EB37 7891 46A9 EAF9 93D0



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[Peter Hansen]

This is most welcome news, but in the light of the recent, often
confusing (or confused) discussion on this list over Rekall and the
Kompany, could Shawn Gordon please comment on this announcement?

When asking one party in a legal dispute to comment on public
announcements made by the other party, what exactly do you really
expect to learn?

-Peter

 

[Jim]

Hello,

I just downloaded the Win32 version (Rekall V2.1.0 Full for Windows ) and it's telling me it's a
demo. I did not download the demo version.

How do I fix this?

Thanks

 

[David M. Wilson]

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that Rekall, the cross-platform
alternative to MS Access, is now totally GPL.

What is TheKompany's stance on this? Did you come to an amicable
agreement before release?

So please visit
http://www.totalrekall.co.uk and download download a copy for yourself. In
order for you to be able to download you must register with the Total Rekall
Portal. The reason we have have made this a requirement is because we would
like to be able to notify everybody when a new version becomes available.

I'm sure you are aware, that this is unenforcable under the GPL.
People are free to redistribute without registration requirements. It
is also interesting to see that after going to great (and
controversial) lengths to give your users more freedom through this
new license, you apply this 'petty' restriction of registration and
mandatory notifications of new releases. This seems a little
contradictory to me, 'sall.


David.

 

[Ben Finney]

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that Rekall, the
cross-platform alternative to MS Access, is now totally GPL.

Like others have stated, I'm waiting to see if the other parties with
copyright interest in Rekall (i.e. TheKompany) agree to the release of
code under the GPL.

In order for you to be able to download you must register with the
Total Rekall Portal.

Or, wait for someone who has already downloaded it to redistribute
without this requirement, since the GPL permits this.

The reason we have have made this a requirement is because we would
like to be able to notify everybody when a new version becomes
available.

Surely it would be sufficient to encourage (*not* require) users to
subscribe to a rekall-anounce mailing list?

You should also be aware that in order for for us to continue the
future development of Rekall we will have to charge for technical
support, customisation, training and consulting, therefore, now that
we have gone wholly GPL, you will have to take out a technical support
subscription.

Sounds like a fine way to fund development and infrastructure.

 

[Lothar Scholz]

I just downloaded the "full" package for windows.
And i have the following questions/annotations:

1) There is still a "Trial Version" screen, telling me that i have 7
days
for evaluation. The 'Order' button takes me to your site.

2) The program is installed in the "Program Files/theKompany/Rekall"
Folder.
So this looks like a "theKompany" product. The About Window says:

RekallQT: A QT database front end
Release 2.1.0
(c) 2000,2001,2002,2003
by theKompany.com

3) Where is the Source Code ? I only see compiled DLL files and can't
find
a link to a source code download on your site. So even if you don't
break
theKompany's copyright, you break the GPL.
The "License" section in the About Window also don't show the GPL,
but the
old license from TheKompany.com

4) The Application crashs every time i want to access my MySQL
database
(listing the tables).
It seems that there is no crash management that gives me more
information.
Right ? How can i send you bugreports on a crash without this ?

So all together it does not look very promising. Having bugs in your
application is one thing, but it looks that your move to GPL is simply
a rewording on your webpage. This looks like an adhoc change and don't
give me the feeling that i can trust in your words about the
copyright.

 

[Andrew Dalke]

John Dean
David M. Wilson

I'm sure you are aware, that this is unenforcable under the GPL.

No it isn't. Given John's statement above, it's completely valid and
enforceable. Once you have the software you can redistribute it
without requiring that others register with Total Rekall Portal.

People are free to redistribute without registration requirements.

Yup. Note the "redistribute" part. You have to get it in the first place.

It is also interesting to see that after going to great (and
controversial) lengths to give your users more freedom through this
new license, you apply this 'petty' restriction of registration and
mandatory notifications of new releases. This seems a little
contradictory to me, 'sall.

Saying nothing about Rekall, but if I wanted to I could require
that you pay me $1 million and your home phone number before
you get a copy of my GPL'ed software. You are at that point free
to redistribute the software without additional requirements, but
if you wish you could also redistribute it for $1 million a pop.

Andrew
(e-mail address removed)

 

[GrayGeek]

Hi

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that Rekall, the cross-platform
alternative to MS Access, is now totally GPL. So please visit
http://www.totalrekall.co.uk and download download a copy for yourself. In
order for you to be able to download you must register with the Total
Rekall Portal. The reason we have have made this a requirement is because
we would like to be able to notify everybody when a new version becomes
available. We are presently working on V2.2.0 and I am sure you would not
like to miss out.

You should also be aware that in order for for us to continue the future
development of Rekall we will have to charge for technical support,
customisation, training and consulting, therefore, now that we have gone
wholly GPL, you will have to take out a technical support subscription. I
will post information relating to support levels and pricing once we
worked out the detail. In the meantime may I suggest that you sign up to
our mailing list. Instructions can be found at the bottom of the home
page.

mmm, either the registration process is overloaded, or it is not
functioning. After registering I failed to receive the confirmatory email.
(Yes, my data was correct).
Anyone else notice this?
I see that all the previous msgs are on the 9th, but none after that.

 

[Jim]

mmm, either the registration process is overloaded, or it is not
functioning. After registering I failed to receive the confirmatory email.
(Yes, my data was correct).
Anyone else notice this?
I see that all the previous msgs are on the 9th, but none after that.

All I got was a demo version after registering. Also, there are some dead links on their page I
reported that haven't been fixed. Something isn't right here.

 

[GrayGeek]

All I got was a demo version after registering. Also, there are some dead
links on their page I reported that haven't been fixed. Something isn't
right here.

It apparently is getting worse. The original site containing the links to
download the 'GPL' software disconnected from me in the middle of trying to
download Rekall for Mandrake 9.1 after I had registered. When I attempted
to reconnect to http://www.totalrekall.co.uk I was redirected to
http://www.rekall.a-i-s.co.uk/ which is totally devoid of download links.
If I were to hazard a guess it would be that theKompany has shut Dean down.
???
Before the new redirect was established I was getting a "can't connect to
".....theKompany.comrelease". The theKompany URL to rygannon.com gave:
"An error occured while loading http://www.rygannon.com:
Unknown host www.rekall.a-i-s.co.ukindex.php"

So the battle must be raging on... ???

 

[GrayGeek]

All I got was a demo version after registering. Also, there are some dead
links on their page I reported that haven't been fixed. Something isn't
right here.

I saw a message on the general forum (before the site disappeared) by a user
called 'Avi' who asked the same question. BadJake (sysadmin) staid that
there should be a library "...rekall.so'. Avi checked and said the library
was there but named "...rekall..so" (I am using ... to represent the parts
of the name that I don't remember). Avi created link to "...rekall..so"
using "...rekall.so" and the demo notice went away.

 

[John Dean]

Like others have stated, I'm waiting to see if the other parties with
copyright interest in Rekall (i.e. TheKompany) agree to the release of
code under the GPL.

TheKompany should be making an announcement on NewForge/Slashdot tomorrow,
17th Nov.

Or, wait for someone who has already downloaded it to redistribute
without this requirement, since the GPL permits this.

This is quite true

Surely it would be sufficient to encourage (*not* require) users to
subscribe to a rekall-anounce mailing list?

There isn't a rekall-anounce mailing list and since very few people sign up
to mailing lists in the first place, I have chosen to do it this way

Sounds like a fine way to fund development and infrastructure.

We have to make a living. Now you wouldn't begrudge that, would you. Besides
nobody is compelling you to take out a subscripion, are they. We could
always revert back to the commercial license, if you would prefer.

 

[Ben Finney]

TheKompany should be making an announcement on NewForge/Slashdot
tomorrow, 17th Nov.

Thanks, I'll look for it with interest.

There isn't a rekall-anounce mailing list

Nothing prevents you starting one. This would be a useful service, *to
those who want it*, rather than requiring everyone who gets the code
from you to also be on such a list.

and since very few people sign up to mailing lists in the first place,
I have chosen to do it this way

So long as you're not making requirements contrary to the GPL on the
code, you can choose to release it however you like. Once people have
it, they can do with it whatever they like in compliance with the GPL.

We have to make a living. Now you wouldn't begrudge that, would you.

I begrudge no-one the right to make a living, so long as they don't do
it by restricting others. Your proposed methods in the above paragraph
sound like a fine way to fund free software development and
infrastructure, which is why I said so.

Besides nobody is compelling you to take out a subscripion, are they.
We could always revert back to the commercial license, if you would
prefer.

I'm not sure why you are addressing an attitude I've not expressed.
Perhaps you thought I was being sarcastic -- always a dubious
proposition in a text-only medium.

I truly do think that charging money for services that add value without
requiring artificial restriction -- support, customisation, training,
consulting -- are fine ways to fund free software. I hope it works out
well.

 

[Scott Ellsworth]

We have to make a living. Now you wouldn't begrudge that, would you. Besides
nobody is compelling you to take out a subscripion, are they. We could
always revert back to the commercial license, if you would prefer.

Out of curiosity, has this change in focus made the MacOS X port more
likely or less?

I have emails from some months back about it happening, but slowly.
Given that this is the platform of choice for the decision makers at one
of my clients, this is going to be a neccesary, if not sufficient,
condition for them to adopt the software.

Scott
(e-mail address removed)
Java, Cocoa, WebObjects and Database consulting
(I do speak Python, but not well enough to sell services in it.)