Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 14:34:16 -0500 From: Christopher Masto <chris@netmonger.net> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: GPL issues (Was: More important Windows Refund Day coverage) Message-ID: <19990222143416.A25682@netmonger.net> In-Reply-To: <4.1.19990221233032.03fffba0@mail.lariat.org>; from Brett Glass on Sun, Feb 21, 1999 at 11:37:17PM -0700 References: <199902211924.OAA02025@y.dyson.net> <19990221180845.J93492@lemis.com> <199902211924.OAA02025@y.dyson.net> <19990222082525.A1429@ska.bsn> <4.1.19990221233032.03fffba0@mail.lariat.org>
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On Sun, Feb 21, 1999 at 11:37:17PM -0700, Brett Glass wrote: > >Both allow individual to own things and even to profit and make > >private capital from them. > > Not so. The purpose of the GPL is to destroy businesses, markets, > and livelihoods, while duping developers into believing that it > somehow protects their interests. Come off it. As a strong FreeBSD supporter who prefers the GPL to the various other free software licenses I've seen, I find this thread quite disturbing. People seem to be simultaneously upset about something that they percieve as taking away the freedom to use whatever license they want, while complaining about people who choose to use a different license. The purpose of the GPL is to allow people to license their code under the GPL. Period. When I write software, I happen to want the restrictions of the GPL. I do not want my code to ever become non-free. That's my right - it's my code. The reason that I write free software in the first place is that I have seen what comes of proprietary software, and I don't like it, and I will never be a part of it. The GPL allows me to produce free software, and yes, it does hurt people who want to use my code in proprietary programs, but that's too bad - I'm not interested in helping the makers of proprietary programs. Can't we stop all this nonsensical comparison of software licenses to various "evil" political/economic systems, and just acknowledge that we have differences of opinion when it comes to the way software should be licensed? I will never be convinced that proprietary software is good, and many people will never be convinced that it is bad. We can still get along. Every day I use FreeBSD it bothers me a little that things like softupdates and parts of vinum are not free software. Maybe one day I or someone else will write free replacements for those things, and I will be a little less bothered. But for now, I file that away with the guy who didn't signal before changing lanes and the Dilbert strip not being particularly funny today and the thousands of other things that bother me, and life goes on. -- Christopher Masto Director of Operations NetMonger Communications chris@netmonger.net info@netmonger.net http://www.netmonger.net "Good tools allow users to do stupid things." -- Clay Shirky To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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