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Date:      20 Dec 2001 14:00:37 -0800
From:      swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen)
To:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Cc:        Jeremy Karlson <karlj000@unbc.ca>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: GPL nonsense: time to stop
Message-ID:  <0dn10dwnzu.10d@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20011220065451.02653af0@localhost>
References:  <b2itb2y1nh.tb2@localhost.localdomain> <4.3.2.7.2.20011220065451.02653af0@localhost>

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Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> writes:

> At 03:00 AM 12/20/2001, Jeremy Karlson wrote:
> 
> >Okay, "proprietary" is perhaps not a good word, but I still can't think of
> >a better one.

"Closed" is almost always the appropriate word when I see "proprietary"
misused.  Actually, your "do something proprietary" is OK as far as I
can tell, which is why I didn't criticize it directly and used it
myself.  I suppose someone can do something "like proprietors/owners
characteristically do" or something like that.  The little lecture was
just to note that the word doesn't mean "closed" or "non-GPL".

> Try "commercial." GPLed software cannot be commercial, because it
> cannot be the object of commerce. Yes, you can sell a disc with
> the software ON it for money, but you cannot license the software
> ITSELF for money. 

But everyone uses "software" as an ambiguous synonym for both an
intangible "software work" and a tangible "software copy", and you may
sell copies in commerce.  Actually, you can sell the work too, and I
suppose that some dot-goners have done that, but I'm not sure that
qualifies as commerce.

Also, you can license GPL software in return for cross-licensing fees 
in the form of valuable intellectual property rights from derivers 
(which happens in every derivation of GPL software).

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