Re: law question

[Jean Louis]

* Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor 
<help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> [2021-05-22 00:00]:
> What happens if there is a company only when the code gets
> released just moments before it is rewritten as FOSS?

What happens is that people start asking about it...

Author may change the licensing of some software, but not for previous
versions already distributed and received. But if you have never
received it and nobody else received it who can give it to you, bad
luck.

Example is the SugarCRM, they had community version and they stopped
making a community version, so they discontinued free software
releases and sell only proprietary. However, nobody can take you away
the license once granted for the previous version. See example:
https://github.com/matthewpoer/SugarCRM-Community-Edition/tree/master/OldFiles 

Same thing would be if some company arrives and wish to take over the
software, it does not matter for the recipient. If you have downloaded
it with specific license you have got your rights. And then you could
make your own fork if you wish: https://suitecrm.com/


-- 
Jean

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