Public Domain Python

[Tom]

"Tim Peters" <tim_one at email.msn.com> wrote in message
news:LNBBLJKPBEHFEDALKOLCCECEHFAA.tim_one at email.msn.com...
> [Tom]
> > You hit the nail on the head with "Public Domain".
> >
> > That's one of the reasons I have started to use Python (and why I
> > won't use Java).  If changes to the license (or changes in the way
> > that Python is 'managed') mean that I can no longer consider it
> > Public Domain than I'll go back to a language that supports type
> > checking.
>
> Python isn't public domain, though, and never has been.  Public domain
means
> there's *no* copyright (which can only happen if the copyright holder
> explicitly gives up copyright forever -- the decision to put something in
> the public domain is irrevocable), and so no restrictions now-- or
ever --on
> how you can use it.  So long as there's a copyright holder, they can
change
> the rules across releases (as, for example, CNRI just did, starting with
> Python 1.6b1).
> ...

That does put a kink in my enthusiasm.  So, if Python isn't public domain
then why does the Python community have that good, Linux-like, public
spirit.  I refer to the way that people promote the language and help each
other, etc. - as if we are doing something for the public good, rather than
just for the good of CNRI or BeOpen.

By your definition, is C++ (my previous language) public domain?  Or does
AT&T hold a copyright?

Tom.