Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 11:28:39 +0530 (IST) From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> To: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> Cc: advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Some thoughts on advocacy (was: Slashdot ftp.cdrom.com upgra Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.05.9905031122490.3792-100000@sys3.physics.iisc.ernet.in> In-Reply-To: <372CF223.9E86C8DB@softweyr.com>
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Let me make a couple of things clear:
(a) I'm guilty of going on too long about the GPL, sorry about
that.
(b) My intention was not to discuss the merits of the GPL,
and certainly not to suggest that BSD switch to GPL.
Please re-read my first post if you don't believe this.
I can't believe the sort of "advocacy" that goes on sometimes. I
fully appreciate someone's comment that you'll find extreme
opinions expressed on the list. The things is, you find the same
opinions expressed outside. At the same time you find extremely
reasonable and balanced articles like Jordan Hubbard's in
Freshmeat some time back. I originally started reading the
archives to find out what you chaps "really" think...
As I said, I do my bit to encourage use of FreeBSD, but I can't
go on an anti-GPL binge while doing so. That's why I raised the
issue. I realize now that logic is not what is involved here.
Issue closed, from my side at least.
On Sun, 2 May 1999, Wes Peters wrote:
> I started to make this a personal reply, but after re-reading the first
> comment in this utterance I decided it needed a more public airing.
>
> Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> >
> > I agree that this is a pointless discussion on this list. But
> > most discussions on this list seem pointless wrt the title
> > "freebsd-advocacy". So let me go on a bit longer.
>
> How could you possibly tell what the discussions on this list have or
> have not produced? You declare this from the lofty height of a couple
> days or weeks of participation?
>
> This is really galling coming from someone who's ONLY participation
> has been to advocate something many in this forum find foreign to our
> collective objectives.
>
> > You are confusing the GPL with the GNU manifesto.
>
> You seem to be confused that the two are seperable; they are NOT. The
> GPL is the implementation of the GNU manifesto.
>
> Please do us all a favor and shut up until you actually have some idea
> what you're talking about. When you do figure out what you're talking
> about, do it in some appropriate forum. Freebsd-Advocacy is *not* that
> forum.
>
>
> If you want to take a snapshot of FreeBSD and re-release as GPLBSD,
> you are entirely free to do that. Nobody in their right mind will
> assist you in this when they have access to FreeBSD as the same time,
> which does not dictate how they may use it. Many, perhaps even most
> of those who contribute to FreeBSD find the GPL to be counter-productive
> and socially unacceptable on many levels. Your preaching here is not
> only inappropriate, it is counter to what WE BELIEVE IN. The GPL is
> the implementation of the GNU manifesto, and FreeBSD is and always will
> remain under the FREE Berkeley-style license it is now distributed
> under because the BERKELEY LICENSE IS BETTER.
>
> The GPL ends up doing exactly what it purports to prevent: software
> hoarding. Since software ENCUMBERED with the GPL cannot be effectively
> used in commercial products, it ends up not being used in exactly the
> way it should be used. Imagine how difficult it would have been to
> create the Internet we have now if every vendor had implemented their
> own versions of SMTP, DNS, FTP, and even TCP/IP. The reason the
> Internet exists today is because brilliant contributors had the
> foresight to release their work under a license that ALLOWED it to
> be included in SunOS and HP-UX and AIX and even (shudder) VAX/VMS.
>
> Now, is that completely clear?
>
>
> --
> "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
>
> Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
> http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
>
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