Re: There is a third way
Your argument doesn't address their comment at all.
If you're paying for *support*, who wrote the software doesn't matter. You aren't selling the software. You're selling support.
And that nullifies any LGPL issue. I can sell you support for bash, if I want. Doesn't affect the licence on the code, and I can have literally *nothing* to do with bash whatsoever, or even written a line of code in my life.
That's how everything from Wine (Codeweavers) to Red Hat has always worked. You provide support for another's product and/or for your own product that you give away for free, including the source. Same model for the GLPI helpdesk product, Asterisk, all kinds.
"Here's our paid-for commercial version. We will answer the phone if you buy this, and help you get it running, installed or repaired. By the way, the software is basically just this open-source product which you can download and do what you want with, but you're on your own if you do."
Unfortunately, the very next step is always "And here's a plugin infrastructure, and we now offer a closed-source plugin that only comes with our commercial version. There's nothing stopping you writing an open-source one, because the code for the plugin infrastructure is in both versions. But we aren't giving you the source to own in-house closed-source plugin. Good luck!".
Biting the hand that feeds IT
