Picking a license

[Paul Boddie]

On 11 Mai, 14:12, Ed Keith <e_... at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- On Mon, 5/10/10, Ben Finney <ben+pyt... at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
>
> > So I object to muddying the issue by misrepresenting the source of that
> > force. Whatever force there is in copyright comes from law, not any free
> > software license.
>
> You are the one muddying the waters. It does not mater whether you break my
> kneecaps, or hire someone else to break my kneecaps, either way my kneecaps
> are broken.

Nice analogy. In fact, the "force" mentioned above is nothing more
than the thing which makes these licensing agreements binding. All the
talk about the GPL "forcing" people to do stuff, when the stuff is
actually one side of a bargain or the obligations of a party in an
agreement, is great theatre but nothing more.

> You can use any license you want, but the simple fact is that if there are
> fewer restrictions in the license then the user has more freedom in how he
> uses the licensed code.

Yes, the recipient of that code as issued by you has fewer
restrictions on their actions and thus more privileges. However,
recipients of the extended work may be denied any or nearly all of
these privileges.

> If there are more restrictions he/she has less freedom in how he/she uses
> the licensed code.

Yes, that recipient does not get to exercise certain privileges.
However, recipients of the extended work retain the same set of
privileges. As do recipients of the work upon subsequent
redistribution.

> We can debate which is better (whether a man should be free to sell
> himself into slavery) but to claim that putting more restrictions on
> someone give them more freedom is pure Orwellian double speak.

It may provide fewer privileges for initial recipients but may grant
those privileges more widely.

> Sophistry is the last resort of those who have run out of good
> arguments. The more you engage in it the weaker you make your position.

Then I challenge you to dispute the statements of my last three
paragraphs without introducing a specific notion of "freedom" in order
to make your case.

> This thread is generating more heat than light, and probably should be dropped.

On this I don't necessarily disagree.

Paul