Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 12:43:36 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: greyheart@fnmail.com, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Your misconceptions about the GPL Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.19991122123435.042bf850@localhost> In-Reply-To: <199911220243.CAA27066@mx1.xcelcom.com>
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At 02:43 AM 11/22/1999 +0000, greyheart@fnmail.com wrote: > The problem I've heard for months in the FreeBSD lists: lack >of attention. The solution: use GNU popularity for your own benefit. Actually, it's not "GNU" that's popular, it's Linux -- and packages that are based on it -- that are popular. (Most of these packages do include some of the software generated by the "GNU" project, but also include even more generated by others -- e.g. Apache.) Stallman is attempting to use the popularity of Linux to promote his "GNU" agenda. He does so by trying to tack on the name of his project. onto the name "Linux." There's an old joke which says that the easiest way to become a leader is to find a parade, jump in front of it, and pretend that you're the leader. It may be the easiest way, but it involves deception. And that's unethical. > It's like I making a song. Since I'm not well known in the >artistic media, I have no success at all, so I say: --"I'll give it to >all the people I know." >It happens that a famous singer hear it, take >it and sing it. He makes millions, and he protects the song with the >anti-piracy model that we're used to see in the music stuff. I >make not a penny and my friends nor _myself_ can no longer hear my >song. >I've lost my song, my time, and my credit. And all this happened >because I was unprotected. The above displays your ignorance of copyright law. In realith, unpublished works are protected by copyright. > GPL is the best way to make a project, commercial or not, >open source. The GPL does not meet the criteria for an open source license. First, it discriminates against a field of endeavor: the creation of commercial software. Second, it requires a "fee" before you can distribute works based upon the software: namely, the forfeiture of the value of your own code. For both of these reasons, the GPL is not a legitimate open source license. >On the other side, if I put the software under the GPL, I win in all >senses. I'll have thousands of users and programmers around the world >to make my project better than the original. Indeed, I'd have millions >of persons using my program. And you'd never make a dime off of it. What's more, you'd sabotage all of your future efforts. Not a good thing. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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