Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 01:30:30 -0600 (CST) From: Joel Ray Holveck <joelh@gnu.org> To: danny@panda.hilink.com.au Cc: AdamT@smginc.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, sef@kithrup.com Subject: Re: Mike Shaver: Netscape gives away source code for Communicator Message-ID: <199801230730.BAA00367@detlev.UUCP> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.91.980123133010.29251E-100000@panda.hilink.com.au> (danny@panda.hilink.com.au) References: <Pine.BSF.3.91.980123133010.29251E-100000@panda.hilink.com.au>
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>> Uh, no. According to the press announcement, the source is going out >> under the GPL. They get the rights to see any new feature someone >> comes up with and can't limit use of the source. Should be free to use >> with the *BSD/Linux/etc. CDs. >> How they're going to deal with that and make the value added versions >> worth paying for and not GPL'ed is going to be interesting. > It is a promotional exercise. They get 10000 hackers brains making > Netscape's browser the best in the world, and so corporations will > naturally go to Netscape for web and proxy servers etc. This is the same sort of thing that created GCC, GDB, Emacs, and FreeBSD. And this is a Good Thing. I'm just glad that Netscape finally caught on to the idea. > What I like about this announcement is that it necessarily becomes legal > to carry a Netscape mirror site (I hope!) Before we get some confusion, let me make this clear: if you distribute a modified source or any binary, you must have alongside it the original sources. But I can sell you a GNU dev tools CD-ROM with the source on it, and my obligation is fulfilled. I needn't even offer to sell your friend the same CD. Or I can bring up an FTP site with the Emacs binaries, and have the Emacs source there in the same directory, and even if my site is up for only a day, my obligation is fulfilled. My point is: one common point of confusion with the GPL is that a redistributor must keep an FTP site with the source for three years, and this is *not* the case. Best, joelh -- Joel Ray Holveck - joelh@gnu.org - http://www.wp.com/piquan Fourth law of programming: Anything that can go wrong wi sendmail: segmentation violation - core dumped
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