Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 00:38:45 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: brett@lariat.org (Brett Glass) Cc: eivind@yes.no, gsutter@pobox.com, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: "Open Source Town Meeting" supports only one faction Message-ID: <199807240038.RAA21575@usr06.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <199807232311.RAA06342@lariat.lariat.org> from "Brett Glass" at Jul 23, 98 05:11:46 pm
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> >This is wrong. If it had been locked-down software (e.g, GPL) as > >opposed to free software, they couldn't have added more licensing > >terms. With any fully free license (the type the FreeBSD project > >encourage :-) this could be done. Anybody could take most of the > >FreeBSD sources and do the same thing - however, we'd be likely to > >out-develop them, so it isn't of real interest. > > I think competition between commercial and open source versions of the same > software is great. It keeps the commercial developers hopping when they might > rest on their laurels; even if they're not "out-developed," they still > need to stay a good deal ahead of the pack or add other value (as BSDI > does). In return for their extra effort, they can earn a good living. > > At the same time, the open source version provides a route for > widespread review of the source. So, let's encourage people to take our > source and go private if they're willing to shoulder that burden. In the > long run, all software will get better, and we'll have more options. > That's what, I think, we really want. While so far I think the XFree group is the front running candidate to whom I'd forward entry fees... What about Tim Wilkerson, who has just released KAFFE under GPL, and has actually implemented what appears to be the first freely available version of classes.zip -- shrugging off the not-inconsiderable Sun JVM licensing fees that companies must pay to use JVM? I'm sure Tim is about to need funding for legal help to prove the clean-room implemetnation. Sun is apparently going to audit him to make sure that it was a clean-room implementation. Another potential candidate is the Willows people, who have released their code under GPL. It provides a Windows-compatible compilation platform for use by appications vendors wanting to port Windows apps to non-Windows systems; in addition, it provides for an ABI emulation environment as part of the developement code (even though it specifically disclaims an intent at a WABI)... Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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