Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 15:25:37 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: "Opposing" the "competition" (was: FreeBSD spokesman (was: So what happens to FreeBSD now?)) Message-ID: <15172.52545.788676.736485@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20010705135915.00bb8a80@localhost> References: <4.3.2.7.2.20010705125524.04502690@localhost> <Pine.GSO.4.21.0107031644410.16320-100000@z.glue.umd.edu> <20010703134058.A9446@mooseriver.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20010705135915.00bb8a80@localhost>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> types: > >If the goal is to kill the FreeBSD project, it's also > >a pretty good idea. > Neither the goal nor the effect of opposing the GPL would be > to "kill the FreeBSD project." You're engaging in hyperbole here. No, I'm stating an opinion. To rephrase, if a highly visible member of the FreeBSD development community launched a vendetta against the GPL, it would do serious damage to the FreeBSD project. And it would. Now, if I pointed out that your attacks on the FSF are so single-minded that you are apparently willing to damage the FreeBSD project in order to damage the FSF in the process, *that* would be hyperbole. > >As for the "culture", anyone who thinks the GPL introduced something > >new to the open source or free software culture doesn't know the > >history of such (which may explain the repetitive nature of their > >discourse :-). > Not so. The GPL was introduced by Richard Stallman due to his > PERSONAL vendetta against spinoffs of the MIT AI Lab. The reason Stallman introduced the GPL is irrelevant to the question of what the free software culture was like before he did so. Anyone who is aware of what was going on then knows that the only real change from the GPL was providing a single license for the large numbers of people who were already releasing software with the intent that it not be available for commercial use. > The GPL also violates authors' rights by attempting > to appropriate their rights to their own work and preventing them > from being rewarded for it. Not so. The GPL is inanimate, and can't attempt anyhing. Any author who releases something under the GPL does so of their own free will, and while they may give away the right to be rewarded for the work in question, they do so knowingly. Since many of them would have used some less effective "no commercial use" license if the GPL weren't available, they benefit from doing so. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?15172.52545.788676.736485>