Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 17:46:51 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: "Pedro F. Giffuni" <pfg1+@pitt.edu>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: Bzdik BSD <bzdik@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Perens Replies (was Ivan Leybovich) Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20010613173546.00b48a50@localhost> In-Reply-To: <310748704.992448194@box014.labs.pitt.edu> References: <20010613185817.93575.qmail@web13601.mail.yahoo.com>
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At 02:03 PM 6/13/2001, Pedro F. Giffuni wrote: >Seems like he just admitted that the GPL is not free software after all !!! Free as in FreeBSD I mean. GPLed software is not free software because it cannot be freely reused for any purpose. It is, in fact, very much encumbered by an onerous license that's rife with legalese. Nor is GPLed software open source. Stallman says so explicitly on his Web site and elsewhere. Believe it or not, this is one point on which I actually agree with Stallman. The GPL is clearly not open source because it violates point #6 of the "Open Source Definition." It is expressly intended to discriminate against a field of endeavor: the creation of commercial software. It therefore does not qualify as an open source license. Unfortunately, several of the board members of the "Open Source Initiative" have strong vested interests in Linux companies or in projects that create GPLed software. So, even though they are not disinterested parties and should recuse themselves from any decision regarding the matter, they list the GPL as one of their "approved" licenses. This should change, since the GPL clearly does not meet the requirements. By listing the GPL as an "open source" license, they both demonstrate a conflict of interest and diminish their credibility -- especially with the businesses they claim to want to win over. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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