Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 11:59:17 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: "Gary W. Swearingen" <swear@attbi.com>, Mike Jeays <mj001@rogers.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Bystander shot by a spam filter. Message-ID: <3E188E95.63FA837@mindspring.com> References: <4.3.2.7.2.20030104193110.0285a570@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104145840.02925620@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104131212.03837e10@localhost> <3E120659.3D60EB30@mindspring.com> <200212312041.gBVKfr183480@hokkshideh2.jetcafe.org> <3E120659.3D60EB30@mindspring.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104112015.026a5530@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104131212.03837e10@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104145840.02925620@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104193110.0285a570@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20030105121306.02936b00@localhost>
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Brett Glass wrote: > At 09:20 PM 1/4/2003, Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > >But you don't NEED to un-GNU it for many purposes. While copyleft code > >is worthless (and so not a free gift) for some purposes (eg, > >close-combining with non-GPL code), it still has value as a free gift > >for some purposes, like when executing or when a copy is sold on a > >CDROM, etc. It's a gift; just not as much of a gift as if it were under > >a better license. > > Again, it's a Trojan horse. The user sees no harm in accepting the gift, > but by not using alternatives (particularly commercial alternatives) > he is furthering the FSF's "scorched earth" agenda. This, in the long > run, hurts him. Those with insidious agendas frequently rely upon > the average person's focus on short term benefits and/or lack of > knowledge of the "big picture." My personal take is that license matters for strategic code, but does not matter at all for tactical code. For tactical code, not only does the license not matter, you are much better off if you give it away; you get these benefits: o You get to dictate the interface to your competitors, which lets you control their performance, somewhat o You unload maintenance costs from your pocket onto the community (minimally), and share them with your competitors (ideally) o You concentrate on only the code that makes you money, instead of spending additional time and effort on code that doesn't, once it minimally works. SAMBA is an example of tactical code; if you are building a small office server, and need to offer CIFS access to it to be competitive, you might as well use SAMBA to do it: the code itself is relatively independent of all other code, and you aren't going to gain any competitive advantage out of using it. So it might as well be GPL'ed. > When you are infected by and propagate a virus, you are, in effect, > performing an involuntary service for it. The same is true when > you use, promote, propagate, or decline to seek an alternative to > GPLed software. You're being used, whether you know it or not. One > of the most insidious effects is that you may not promote the creation > of a truly free alternative. This being California, I know people who say the same thing about "Y" chromosomes... that doesn't make it true... 8-) -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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