Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 13:41:14 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> 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: <4.3.2.7.2.20030105133110.029406f0@localhost> In-Reply-To: <3E189508.E01ACD21@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> <4.3.2.7.2.20030105130229.029271d0@localhost>
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At 01:26 PM 1/5/2003, Terry Lambert wrote: >> It matters in both cases. If "tactical" code is GPLed, you can't >> look at it or fix it, and the GPL will extinguish alternatives. > >Sure you can: it's just that the result remains GPL. No, you can't -- at least not if you want to be sure you can license other things you write under a different license. Remember, so much at looking at GPLed code can prompt accusations that anything similar you later write is derivative and hence must be GPLed. >SAMBA is a particularly good example, because SAMBA's whole being, >their raison d'ettre, is "to keep up with changes Microsoft makes >to their CIFS implementation". SAMBA's job is to fight a holding >action in defense of a tactical objective. And by doing that, they >prevent the objective from becoming strategic for Microsoft, again. They're holding off third parties more than they're holding off Microsoft. They've reduced the market value of CIFS compatibility to zero, so that Microsoft's competitors can't use it as a selling point. And by providing an implementation of the protocol, they prevent it from being avoided by administrators as closed and proprietary. Again, the GPL aids Microsoft and we all lose. >The smart thing for Microsoft to do would be to give away their >CIFS code under a license that was not the GPL, but which permitted >modification and use by third parties... which would immediately >fragment the hell out of the commercial SAMBA support, and, likely, >regain Microsoft strategic control over the direction of the standard, >when all they have right now is tactical control, because the SAMBA >people follow them faster than they can change direction. Why should they? With SAMBA always playing catch-up, and no commercial alternatives, they can now claim that they're the only sure-fire way to do networking on Windows machines. They're in an enviable position. Controlling a public standard isn't so enviable. >No, really, it doesn't. Hosted services are not a function of the OS, They're an important feature of the distribution. >SAMBA can run on any competitive OS you want to name, without the >license interacting with the OS license whatsoever. While it would not force the licensing of the OS to change unless it were integrated, the GPL prevents the OS vendor from adding unique enhancements and being able to profit by doing so. Nor can he do tighter integration. >That's a religious argument. No, it's not. Avoiding a pernicious and Draconian license is pragmatic, not "religious." > I'd like to see the business case for >this decision (e.g. something like a 5 year profit/loss estimate >difference in the projections based on one choice vs. another). They're not tied to Microsoft. That's a huge advantage. >I rather expect that, while the benefit to the business of having >something to fill that ecological niche is, for them, strategic, >the choice on what actually filled it for them was purely tactical, >and had no real strategic motivation past "we need a file repository". Not so. Again, the idea is to keep them free both of Microsoft and the GPL. A course that's increasingly hard to steer when so many people (including FreeBSD) allow the GPL vampire in the door. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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