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Date:      Sat, 25 Nov 2006 09:42:37 -0500
From:      Mike Hauber <mchauber@gmx.net>
To:        "FreeBSD, Advocacy" <freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org>
Subject:   BSD folks position on GPL, Novell, IBM, SCO, and MS...
Message-ID:  <200611250942.38410.mchauber@gmx.net>

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This question was originally posted to the questions list, and I was referr=
ed=20
here:

I am by no means trolling here. =C2=A0I just haven't heard much of anything=
 from=20
the BSD community on the subjects, and would like to know the general=20
consensus. =C2=A0If advocacy is not the place for questions like this, coul=
d=20
someone re-direct me to an appropriate list or reference, or sending me an=
=20
email directly is fine, too.

I have been an avid user of the BSDs (mostly FreeBSD and OpenBSD), and have=
=20
experimented with the Linuses for a good while now (Mainly Debian, RH, and=
=20
SuSe). =C2=A0I pretty much get it that the BSD folks and the Linux folks do=
n't=20
completely see eye-to-eye on licensing issues, but it seems to me that the=
=20
overall attempt of both communities seems to be "get the code out there and=
=20
keep it free."

(I was corrected on this point by a FBSD-questions member stating essential=
ly=20
that the GPLs function is perpetuality where the BSD license is simply to=20
"release it free," if I understood that correctly)

I was just wondering what the general consensus was on the GPL, Linux in=20
general, SCOs lawsuit, Sun's open sourcing, IBMs contributions to Linux,=20
Novell's contributions, Novell's deal with MS and how this really affects=20
SuSe (there's a lot of hype on that and I literally don't know what to=20
believe at this point).

Being that most folks here would be in positions of having to deal with a=20
variety of OSs and have in the past dealt with opposing forces at work, I=20
figured there would be at least one or two educated folks I could glean fro=
m.

I'm an avid reader of GrokLaw and LamLaw, as well as other (not so thorough=
=20
sources), but still haven't really heard anything as far as the stance from=
=20
the BSD side of the OS community.

Thanks, and sorry for the imposition,

Mike


PS... =C2=A0One more question... =C2=A0Being that Linux emulation is availa=
ble as a port=20
for the BSDs, I would assume (but haven't taken the time to research) that=
=20
GPLd code is used. =C2=A0If there comes to be issues with Linux, what would=
 that=20
mean for BSDs compatibility in regards to emulation?



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