Python 2.0b1 is released!

Bernhard Reiter breiter at usf.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE
Thu Sep 7 06:29:01 EDT 2000


In article <US5EDKAlG2t5EwW9 at jessikat.fsnet.co.uk>,
	Robin Becker <robin at jessikat.fsnet.co.uk> writes:
> In article <LNBBLJKPBEHFEDALKOLCOEIHHEAA.tim_one at email.msn.com>, Tim
> Peters <tim_one at email.msn.com> writes

>>If they don't, all Python users will suffer (even the ones who don't like
>>the GPL -- they owe a debt to their GPL brethren whether they acknowledge it
>>or not).

> These licensing issues seem more and more crazy, the GPL seems to me to
> be more trouble than it's worth. 

It is the only defense we have against malicious big coporations.
We would have significat less freedom available for software if we
went without the GPL. Please citing examples of other projects with
a license allowing more abuse often forget that this success was
possible in a world _with_ GPL protecting some core tools.

> According to Linux Weekly news RMS is not content that Qt is now
> GPL'd and wants to punish those that linked GPL'd code with Qt
> when it wasn't open source. 

Well if you do not comply with the license, the license terminates.
This is a needed protection. Otherwise your license is not worth anything.
Qt had an open source license a bit longer, but it did not allow you
to link it with GPL. If you still do it, the GPL license terminates.
There is no other choise. But people knew that in advance and made
their choise to violate the license.

> As if Geeks with Guns wasn't bad
> enough do we really want Nerds with Lawyers?

The Gun issue is completly software unrelated as has to do a lot
with culture. 

Laws are complicated, but a common way to regulate 
transactions (business and non business) between people.
They have a huge impact. There was a time when more lawyers worked
on unix then programmer. We do not want that back. 
So we have to do some political work sometimes. E.g. against software patents.

	Bernhard

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