[Sussex] Licence question

[Geoffrey Teale]

Gavin,

The short but simple answer is that all software is "just a file
really" .  You can use the straight GPL quite happily for your
spreadsheet - you are not licensing the code of the application, merely
your algorithms in that tool.  In that sense the finished work is no
different to a program written in an interpreted language (like Perl or
Python).

The only restriction on this is the license agreement that you have with
the publisher of the spreadsheet application.  IF it happens to be a
recent version of Microsoft Excel then you may well find that your
spreadsheet isn't entirely yours to license as you wish.  C'est la vie,
bon chance, et Vive la resistance.
   

Regards
Geoff Teale
Free Software Foundation

On Sat, 2004-02-07 at 00:10 +0000, Gavin Stevens wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have recently created a spreadsheet for my partner to help her with her 
> Homoeopathic case taking. It appears that it has significant advantages 
> over spreadsheets used by her fellow students in that it actually 
> calculates the "score" for each remedy as you go. In particular, it counts 
> the number of columns used, which is used in the reckoning for each remedy.
> 
> I am only too happy to share this work with Tracy's fellow homoeopathy 
> students if it will be of use to them. What I don't want to happen is for 
> someone to turn round & say they created it, or to derive some other work 
> from it & then use it for profit (some homoeopathic repertory programmes 
> sell for over £1,000) instead of sharing it with the community.
> 
> My question regarding licence is to do with the fact that a spreadsheet 
> file is not exactly software in its own right, just a file really, albeit 
> with formulae & other things designed to help the user.
> 
> I am aware of things like Copyleft & open documentation, which seem to be a 
> GPL for things that aren't directly derived from code. Does anyone have any 
> ideas about which of the above, or any other type of open licence that 
> could apply to a spreadsheet file of this type?
> 
> Any thoughts welcome.
> 
> Gavin.
> 
> 
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-- 
Geoffrey Teale <tealeg at member.fsf.org>
Free Software Foundation