Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 04:54:17 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Gregory Sutter <gsutter@pobox.com>, "Pedro F. Giffuni" <pfgiffun@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Effects of the GPL Message-ID: <4.1.19990208044608.00c8a9f0@mail.lariat.org> In-Reply-To: <19990208013607.F27505@orcrist.mediacity.com> References: <36BE3DEC.433E8A2E@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co> <199902071900.LAA09317@kithrup.com> <36BE1B25.653A5341@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co> <19990207162848.L27505@orcrist.mediacity.com> <36BE3DEC.433E8A2E@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co>
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At 01:36 AM 2/8/99 -0800, Gregory Sutter wrote: >On Sun, Feb 07, 1999 at 08:29:16PM -0500, Pedro F. Giffuni wrote: >> >> - From an economical point of view, the GPL has a negative effect over >> capitalism, and will eventually have some effect on employment (I'm not >> kidding, I'll have to write a dissertation about this, but I haven't >> found the time). The BSD license doesn't have this effect. > >I don't think it will have a negative effect on employment. I think it will. The GPL limits opportunities for entrepreneurship, because it's tough to start a company that creates, and profits from, useful software. And it hurts innovation, because inventive programmers can't base their work on what came before and reap the benefits of their additions. Instead, they must reimplement the wheel first. This imposes such a hefty penalty that few will try. Paul Vixie was going to present a talk on this issue at LinuxWorld, but recently cancelled, alas. I was going to fill in, but discovered that the session had been scheduled directly opposite one by Nick Petreley -- Editorial Director of the online LinuxWorld magazine and a key cheerleader for the GPL. I therefore opted out; wrong forum, bad time slot. But I would welcome contributions to an online presentation about the subject. I'd like to call it "The Fortress, the Cathedral, and the Bazaar." Microsoft, of course, would be the Fortress; the theology-motivated FSF (with Linux and the GPL) the Cathedral; and the commercial software world and the BSD movement the Bazaar. --Brett "Rules? This is the Internet." -- Dan Gillmor To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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