From owner-freebsd-chat Tue Dec 18 20:59:13 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from lists.blarg.net (lists.blarg.net [206.124.128.17]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC33437B405 for ; Tue, 18 Dec 2001 20:59:10 -0800 (PST) Received: from thig.blarg.net (thig.blarg.net [206.124.128.18]) by lists.blarg.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6AC24C02C; Tue, 18 Dec 2001 20:59:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost.localdomain ([206.124.139.115]) by thig.blarg.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA25364; Tue, 18 Dec 2001 20:59:04 -0800 Received: (from jojo@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.11.6/8.11.3) id fBJ4xlH65190; Tue, 18 Dec 2001 20:59:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from swear@blarg.net) To: Stephen J Bevan Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GPL nonsense: time to stop References: <20011218121011.E21649@monorchid.lemis.com> <4hzo4hyv3c.o4h@localhost.localdomain> <4.3.2.7.2.20011217221801.02841bc0@localhost> <0gn10gyxwd.10g@localhost.localdomain> <15391.50782.619686.198748@apathy.etunnels.com> From: swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen) Date: 18 Dec 2001 20:59:47 -0800 In-Reply-To: <15391.50782.619686.198748@apathy.etunnels.com> Message-ID: <736673ztx8.673@localhost.localdomain> Lines: 42 User-Agent: Gnus/5.0808 (Gnus v5.8.8) XEmacs/21.1 (Cuyahoga Valley) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Stephen J Bevan writes: > Gary W. Swearingen writes: > > Unfortunately, he also decided to punish developers who WILL allow > > repair and enhancement (eg, FreeBSD) but won't join in the punishment of > > others; that is way the GPL has no virus-escape clause for other open > > software, which it easily could do. I don't understand why more people > > don't find this bullying of other open ("free") software developers > > distasteful. > > Perhaps, because they don't see it as bullying? No, that can't be it because they can fail to see it as bullying and still find it distasteful. I welcome a thoughtful answer as well as an answer to why more people don't find this distasteful ploy to be bullying. > Is someone forcing you to use GPL software? No. I can sit and stare at a wall and not be forced to use it. But if I want to use the Internet or keep my ISP or use FreeBSD on my desktop or aviod re-writing a Linux kernel driver from scratch for FreeBSD, then yes, I'm being forced to use GPL software, so someone must be forcing me. You surely don't think that "force" is only exerted by muscles and firearms, do you? Money and inconvenience are the more usual weapons of bullies. For another example, consider Mr. Gates in his business dealings. Has anyone ever been forced to deal with Mr. Gates or his company? Have you? BTW, I forgot to note something that you should like. Near-PD licensors of open source software don't have to join in the punishment of closed source developers to a 100% level when incorporating GPL code into a collective or derivative work (at least as the GPL is commonly interpreted; there is only a small risk of infringement). They may dual-license the non-GPL parts of the derivative, as long as the more liberal license is not GPL-incompatible. Or they may put it into the PD; but in that case, unscrupulous copyleftists are free (and more likely) to remove notice of it's status as truly free software. Dual licensing might be an acceptable compromise for collective works, but for typical derivative work, there is little hope of keeping the BSDL code identified and one might as well become a pure copyleftist. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message