Borland gives away Kylix Open Edition

Borland Software has released a new version of its Linux software development tool, Kylix, specifically for building applications to be distributed under the GNU Public Licence (GPL).

Kylix, announced earlier this year in desktop and server editions, is aimed at the large group of developers already familiar with Borland's popular Delphi programming tools. It provides an easy-to-use interface and a library of reusable components to speed up application development, things that Windows developers have been used to for years, but which are hard to come by in the Linux world.

Kylix Open Edition, announced at the Borland Developer Conference on Wednesday, is designed for applications to be distributed under the GPL. This allows anyone to download and modify software, but also requires that developers make those modifications freely available to others. So while Open Edition is available as a free download from Borland's Web site, developers will need to also have a copy of the desktop or server development tools if they want to keep their applications proprietary.

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