Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 09:21:31 -0600 (CST) From: "Jasper O'Malley" <jooji@webnology.com> To: Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@flood.ping.uio.no> Cc: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, "Pedro F. Giffuni" <pfgiffun@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co>, Gregory Sutter <gsutter@pobox.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GPL *again* (was: New CODA release) Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.02.9902080914570.11830-100000@mercury.webnology.com> In-Reply-To: <xzpww1tlyt5.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no>
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On 8 Feb 1999, Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote:
> If that was really their only motivation, they'd use something
> non-contagious. The contagion element of the GPL buys the developer
> nothing;
Sure it does. It says, "if you've got a piece of software that's got 90%
or my code in it and 10% of yours, you can't sell it unless you make the
source code available."
> it's there solely to prevent other people from making money
> from their own hard work.
I'm honestly no fan of the GPL, you must believe me, but, playing Devil's
Advocate, if the base product weren't that valuable to you, you wouldn't
use it. Again, as Devil's Advocate, what I see here are people demanding
that you give away your code completely free if you're going to give it
away at all. To that, the GPLer would say, "Don't like the terms under
which I give away my software? Fine, don't use it."
> The primary motivation for using the GPL is the same as a sheep's
> motivation for following the flock, or a lemming's motivation for
> jumping into the water. There's this tall bearded guy up front who
> says the world will be a better place if they follow him, and Ghod
> forbid that they should spend the energy to form thoughts of their
> own.
And this is the *real* danger. I have no problems if individuals slap the
GPL on their work. Again, if it's not useful to me, I simply won't use it;
likewise, if I can't accept the licensing terms, I won't use it.
When you get large groups of people slapping the GPL on their work because
they think that's what you do with open source software, you have a
problem, because none of those people have considered the greater
implications of the license.
Cheers,
Mick
The Reverend Jasper P. O'Malley dotdot:jooji@webnology.com
Systems Administrator ringring:asktheadmiral
Webnology, LLC woowoo:http://www.webnology.com/~jooji
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