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by simondotau 1364 days ago
> Xcode is free, though.

Unreal Engine is "free" too.

Except it isn't. Neither Unreal Engine nor Apple's developer frameworks (shipped alongside Xcode) are public domain or copyleft. They're both proprietary code available under a license that permits certain usages, disallows certain usages, is royalty free under some conditions, and requires payment under other conditions.

> Apple 'takes their cut' when

That's not for you to decide. Epic can decide when to take money from developers who use Unreal Engine, and how much they're entitled to. It's equally Apple's decision which payment represents compensation for the developer's use of their intellectual property, and how much they're entitled to.
1 comments
dmitriid 1364 days ago
> Neither Unreal Engine nor Apple's developer frameworks (shipped alongside Xcode) are public domain or copyleft.

You're confusing free with libre. Apple's software and Unreal are free as in "free beer".

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simondotau 1364 days ago
> You're confusing free with libre.

I'm not confusing them. The fact that they are not libre is precisely the point I was making. They are both proprietary intellectual property and encumber the person using them with financial obligations under some conditions.

> Apple's software and Unreal are free as in "free beer".

No, they are not. They're free as in "free beer when consumed on our premises, max five per customer, and if you sell our free beer to someone else we'll take some of that revenue thank you very much".

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dmitriid 1364 days ago
The comment you were replying to wasn't talking about free as in speech. They were talking about free as in beer. And the whole thread talks about money and cost. Not their source code availability.
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simondotau 1363 days ago
> They were talking about free as in beer.

Right, and my point is that it's not free as in beer.

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dmitriid 1363 days ago
> Right, and my point is that it's not free as in beer.

But it is. Being free as in "free beer" has nothing to do with being or not being public domain or copyleft.

Public domain or copyleft refer to free as in "free speech".

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simondotau 1363 days ago
> But it is.

Tell that to Epic Games' department of license revenue.

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