Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 23:19:26 -0600 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: FreeBSD Advocacy <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Fwd: Your article "Linux May Be Running on Some Spindly Legal Legs" Message-ID: <3727EBDE.78AC24BA@softweyr.com>
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How's this for a response? Wes Peters wrote: > > Mr. Berman, > > I have just read your referenced article. Please allow me to thank > and congratulate you for presenting the current shaky legal status > of the GPL in clear, concise light. This license has been discussed > often in the popular computing trade press, but never before have > I seen such a lucid legal examination of it. > > I personally avoid the GPL for my own public coding efforts due > to the obnoxious clauses constraining future users and developers > of code. If software is truly to be free, it must be free of the > encumberances of the GPL. > > Perhaps in a future article you could point out the differences > between the GPL and the so-called "Berkeley license," used in the > code created at the University of California at Berkeley. As you > are certainly aware, much of the software that runs the Internet > today was created at UC Berkeley, and is distributed under the > following license terms: > > /*- > * Copyright (c) 1991 The Regents of the University of California. > * All rights reserved. > * > * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without > * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions > * are met: > * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright > * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. > * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright > * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the > * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. > * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software > * must display the following acknowledgement: > * This product includes software developed by the University of > * California, Berkeley and its contributors. > * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors > * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software > * without specific prior written permission. > * > * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND > * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE > * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE > * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE > * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL > * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS > * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) > * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT > * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY > * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF > * SUCH DAMAGE. > */ > > (This license was taken directly from one of the system source code files > in my FreeBSD system, where I read your article and composed this message.) > > A careful reading of this license will reveal that commercial use > is allowed. In fact, commercial use of this not only allowed, it > is encouraged. Portions of the BSD TCP/IP code are found in nearly > every commercial operating system that supports networking, including > the WinSock variant found on Microsoft systems, the VxWorks embedded > operating system found on Mars Pathfinder, and even in Linux. > Commercial versions of UNIX, including SunOS and Ultrix have been > based on the entire BSD operating system. > > These days, freely available variants of BSD UNIX in the form of FreeBSD, > NetBSD, and OpenBSD provide quality, reliable alternative to Windows, > commercial UNIX variants, and Linux. FreeBSD is so stable and reliable, > it is used to power web servers Yahoo! and Hotmail, the ftp server at > Walnut Creek CD-ROM, the Internet Movie Database, and the rendering farm > that created the special effects for the movie "The Matrix." > > Given the reputation and reliability of the BSD code base and the free > licensing terms of the Berkeley license, it may well be that FreeBSD, > not Linux, is truly the operating system of the future. I think > corporate America will find it much more comfortable territory, since > they have already made a home there for nearly 20 years. > > For more information, see: > > http://www.daemonnews.org/ E-zine about "All things BSD..." > http://www.freebsd.org/ FreeBSD Project home page > http://www.netbsd.org/ NetBSD Project home page > http://www.openbsd.org/ OpenBSD Project home page -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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