Email 201408201109
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:09:53 +0200
Subject: Re: Open MW -- android
From: psi29a
To: zini
Cc: Matt Grandstaff <[email protected]>
Hello Matt,
This is Bret Curtis (psi29a), Marc asked me to follow up with you and I'll keep him in CC. We are all anxious to to know the answers to the questions that Marc asked, since this will affect the future of OpenMW. I would like to talk with you if that is possible. My Skype name is: xxx and my gtalk is psi29a@xxx or you can contact me on IRC via #openmw on irc.freenode.org, if none of these methods are available, we can schedule a time to talk over the phone as well.
To be 100% crystal clear, OpenMW does not distribute any Bethesda/Zenimax IP in it source code (which is GPLv3 / opensource) nor in its binaries. No tools, provided by Bethesda, have been used in the creation of OpenMW. To run OpenMW does not require Morrowind to run. That being said, people who own Morrowind can use OpenMW to play the Morrowind game.
As for OpenMW running on non-PC platforms, such as "mobile platforms", I'm afraid the cat is out of the bag on that already and for years now. With OpenMW being included in Debian (and Ubuntu), it is compiled and tested on many platforms[1]. These include but are not limited to architectures that are used on mobile devices. This means if Ubuntu goes forward with their mobile plans, the Ubuntu Store will provide OpenMW, for free, to anyone that wishes to install it. This is already the case for tablets and netbooks. This is something out of our hands.
We currently have no plans to have OpenMW included in the google app store. We have been approached by people who want to do the work, but would want to charge for the work as a 'fee'[2]. Marc (Zini) declined this.
OpenMW is open-source, by law, anyone is allowed to fork OpenMW for their own reasons and even charge money for it. They are only required to honour the GPLv3 and provide the source-code when they do distribute OpenMW. We have no say as to what happens here.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask them. In the mean time, I have some questions of my own. I would like to know why Bethesda would be worried about OpenMW being used in the mobile space. Is it a question of brand and/or that money would be asked for? I can assure you that we do not wish to promote OpenMW for commercial gain nor wish to hurt Bethesda's brand in any way and are willing to work with you in any way we can.
Are there potentially any legal concerns we should be aware of? If so, we're willing to work towards a gentleman's agreement that would help us bypass any problems. That being said, we're also prepared to defend our rights if necessary.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply.
Cheers,
Bret Curtis
[1] https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=openmw&suite=experimental
[2] https://forum.openmw.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2248&p=25911&hilit=google+app#p25911