Do mobile appstores require copyright assignment?
I wonder why in so many cases app developers link only to the appstores to download their apps, and don't offer binaries in their own website.
And I wonder if "having the app in the popular appstore" is a barrier to license them as free software, or even to publish the binary yourself.
I suppose that if the developer is the copyright holder, the binary in the appstore could go with the appstore-compatible license, and at the same time, they could host in their website the binary with their favorite free software license, link to the source code repo, and so (dual-licensing).
Or is it that the appstores are like many scientific publishers, that requiere copyright assignment to them if you want your work to be published by them?
I suppose Google Play is not like that (because I see FaiF Android apps both in Google Play and F-Droid, for example), but I have no idea about the Windows Phone store, the Apple Store, Blackberry, Kindle Fire...
So, do mobile appstores require copyright assignment? !lazypump
Colegota, Douglas Perkins shared this.
any appstore that demands cartel-building exclusivity should never be used by anyone
boycott them!
I tell everyone not to trust ANY app they if they got it in a walled garden appstore
I'd rather see them die than pay a fee just to be "allowed" to give an app to someone
(let alone the other crap they demand like buying a brand new machine just to be able to use their bloated tools)
then they have the nerve to ask for exclusivity?
are people really so stupid that they can't see that its not the money from anyone buying an app that they are after (few people do anyway) the real cash cow is gullible developers paying "developer fees" and buying new machines to run those bloated tools they also insist on.
ITS A SCAM! don't buy into it!
@Laura Arjona Using one app-store makes life easier for Developers and their Users on the short run. It doesn't when they consider market concentration effects. Personally I use an alternative store and frdoid. #FreeYourAndroid #FreeSoftware #FDroid
So far I still believe you can publish Free Software via Apple's store, even if it is under GNU GPL. You just have to provide the source code and binary elsewhere.
Wikipedia still claims that GNU GPL applications are incompatible with the app store: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_App_Store
Open source software licensed only under the GPL (because the App Store Terms of Service imposes additional restrictions incompatible with the GPL)
Though the citations are from 2011 and 2012. I'm not sure if anything has changed?