[Sussex] Licence question

[Gavin Stevens]

Geoff,

Many thanks for your help. I am somewhat surprised to find that my 
spreadsheet can be thought of in the same breath as an application created 
from scratch, although I can see the logic in that.

So, GPL it is - I hope...

I made a clear choice last year by wiping Windows from my computer for ever 
& vowing never to use Micro$oft products at home & to use only open source 
software (he says, writing this in Opera 7.11 - whoops!). Debian has been 
my sole OS since August 2003.

The spreadsheet was created using Star Office 5.2 (which I aliened from a 
SuSE 7 CD - I had a lot of SO 5.2 files as I used the Windows version 
previously). However, I hope to switch to OpenOffice soon, which should 
remove any licencing problems (& be compatible with Star Office??).

I can make an Excel file from Star Office, but that isn't using M$ software 
(so it seems to me).

Does GPL still look possible, or should I do a new version saved in 
OpenOffice to avoid any problems?

Gavin.

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 18:50:18 +0000, Geoffrey Teale <tealeg at member.fsf.org> 
wrote:

> Gavin,
>
> Your spreadsheet is is no way different to any other interpreted
> language (i.e., python or perl).  You can happily release an application
> written in a spreadsheet as GPL if you so wish.
>
> However, if your spreadsheet happens to be written in a recent version
> of Excel and you don't have a special agreement with Microsoft then I'm
> afraid that:
>
> 1. The license you agreed to with that software package means that your
> spreadsheet isn't yours at all, as you have waived certain intellectual
> property rights to Microsoft already.
>
> 2. Your are explicitly prohibited in said license from using Microsoft
> software to produce GPL'd products.
>
> ... fortunately those license terms will very likely be declared illegal
> within the EU this year.
>