Crossover question

[user222]

Crossover isn't free, but why do they let you download their source code? Is there anything missing from full version from their source package?

Check this page:
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/source/

[sether]

Well, you could download the source and compile it yourself but it seems they leave you entirely on your own on compiling and installing it. There's no support if you do this, and the source may be for a version of Crossover Office that's old and/or lacks certain features.

I know there is a free download with everything precompiled, but it's a 30 day trial.

[sether's_opinion]
IMO, there's no reason to pay for office software unless you plan on using MS Access which has no equivalent yet in the free software world (except OOo-2.0beta). There are quite a lot of good, free alternatives to other MS Office applications, however.
[/sether's_opinion]

Out of curiosity, what do you need the office software to do?

[puntmuts]

CodeWeavers uses several projects that are licensed under either the GPL or LGPL, as well as a number of projects that are licensed under other licenses, such as the X11 license.

They have to because they are using open source software in their product.

[user222]

and the source may be for a version of Crossover Office that's old and/or lacks certain features.

Oh my god! The latest version of CrossOver Office is 4.2, but the source package says "CrossOver Office 4.1.0 Source"! :(

[techieMoe]

CodeWeavers uses several projects that are licensed under either the GPL or LGPL, as well as a number of projects that are licensed under other licenses, such as the X11 license.

They have to because they are using open source software in their product.

I didn't read the original post to which this is referring, but if what you're saying is "they have to release the source code because they're using open source software in their product", that's not technically true.

There are tons of licenses out there that are "certified Open Source" by the OSI, not all of which require the source code to remain open. In fact, the only one that I know of that forces you to release the source code is the GPL. The BSD license for instance is an open-source license that allows a company to take BSD-licensed code, put it in their program, and sell the program closed-source.

Codeweavers do use WINE code, or at least they did in the beginning, and that modified WINE code is available for download, but any code that Codeweavers themselves write is not subject to the GPL's mandate to release said code. There is a bit of a legal gray area (and I'm not a lawyer) when the code is cross-compiled (meaning a mix of GPL and non-GPL licensed code) into one package, but AFAIK Codeweavers retains copyrights on their internally produced source code.