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Date:      Wed, 21 Feb 2001 08:01:14 -0500
From:      Kevin Brunelle <kruptos@netzero.net>
To:        freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: BSD licence vs GPL
Message-ID:  <3A93BC1A.F7CF6FB5@netzero.net>
References:  <XFMail.010220231418.jhb@FreeBSD.org>

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John Baldwin wrote:
> . . .  If I'm giving it away, I'm giving it
> away.

This is one thing that really bothers me about GPL defenders. They seem
to have a different definition of what it means to give something away.
GPL'd code is not really free; you have to return your enhancements to
the programmer. This is not like giving something away. If I give you a
car and you add a new stereo system to it; the GPL would give me the
rights to the stereo system. With the BSD license I have waived all my
ownership rights to the car, requiring anything back from the next user
just won't work. Will I get stuff back? Most likely. People who use free
code tend to foster a desire to give free code over time.

> Erm, just because a company uses a copy of my code in their closed source
> program doesn't mean that the copy of the code I have given away magically
> disappears.  Once it is open, it is always open.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Explaining it to someone who thinks
the GPL is better just won't work though. I have been caught up in the
debate on Slashdot before, it never ends.

Kevin Brunelle
-- 
"Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins,
for they are subtle and quick to anger."

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