Still no new license -- but draft text available

[Jim Richardson]

On Fri, 11 Aug 2000 22:56:32 +0100, 
 Grant Griffin, in the persona of <g2 at seebelow.org>,
 brought forth the following words...:

>John W. Stevens wrote:
>> 
>
>> > I personally dislike the GPL because it has repeatedly left me unable to
>> > use technically-meritorious and free (!) software.
>> 
>> Seems that your dislike is based on a misunderstanding . . . why should
>> you get mad because the cost of the ticket is to agree to cooperate?
>
>I'm not really "mad" (except in the "Mad Hatter" sense ;-), but the
>problem is that the cost of the ticket is unreasonably high.  Much of
>what I do is embedded software development.  In case you don't know,
>"embedded software" is stuff inside little black boxes that the user
>never really sees, and may not even know exists--you know, like the
>stuff that makes your toaster burn the toast--or makes the next Kleenex
>pop out of the box.  To provide users of embedded software with the
>source code is unreasonably expensive, relative to the economics of the
>applications.  Besides, the users don't really care anyway.  (Then
>again, I guess the source code for a VCR might finally offer some
>talented hacker a way to figure out how to program it.  ;-)


All you have to do, is provide the source code to those who wish to d/l
it, a simple url in the manual to an ftp site would be sufficient. (provided
of course that the site had the code available.) How much would that cost?
you could probably get a page on sourceforge for it. 

>
>> Your
>> complaint is not specifc to the GPL, it applies to any license that has
>> restrictions.
>
>Yep.  That's why I prefer BSDish license whose only real restriction is
>"don't sue us".  (That's the least I can do for people who give me free
>stuff.)

it would take a certain amount of chutzpah to sue someone for giving you 
access to source code, but, lawyers are, well, lawyers...

>
>> 
>> > It amazes me that people who want to give away their work would want to
>> > place restrictions on its use.
>> 
>> GPL isn't about a "gift to anyone for any use", it is about "a gift to
>> the community", where the community is defined as those people who have
>> agreed to work together in cooperation towards the common goal of
>> creating the best possible system.
>
>Right.  A community can define itself any way it likes--even by its
>strange habit of giving gifts only within itself.

but all you have to do to be part of the community, is to participate.


-- 
Jim Richardson
	Anarchist, pagan and proud of it
WWW.eskimo.com/~warlock
	Linux, because life's too short for a buggy OS.