From owner-freebsd-chat Mon Nov 17 14:24:53 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id OAA20396 for chat-outgoing; Mon, 17 Nov 1997 14:24:53 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat) Received: from dyson.iquest.net (dyson.iquest.net [198.70.144.127]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id OAA20388 for ; Mon, 17 Nov 1997 14:24:49 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from toor@dyson.iquest.net) Received: (from root@localhost) by dyson.iquest.net (8.8.7/8.8.5) id RAA07892; Mon, 17 Nov 1997 17:24:38 -0500 (EST) From: "John S. Dyson" Message-Id: <199711172224.RAA07892@dyson.iquest.net> Subject: Re: FreeBSD based box wins prize at COMDEX! In-Reply-To: from Charles Mott at "Nov 17, 97 02:35:00 pm" To: cmott@srv.net (Charles Mott) Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 17:24:38 -0500 (EST) Cc: julian@whistle.com, chat@freebsd.org X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL31 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Charles Mott said: > > Although the FreeBSD license is on the side of personal freedom, it does > have its downside. GPL, on the other hand, compels software writers to > give back to the freeware community. > I think that responsible companies like Whistle try to contribute back to the software pool. The GPL doesn't even guarantee the give-back. I think that using the free market, with the public knowledge that the company contributes-back is a vastly superior alternative. Freer (BSD is one of them) license terms have less of the police-state or "free if you use it the way that I want you to" mentality associated with more restrictive license terms. -- John dyson@freebsd.org jdyson@nc.com