Matthew Garrett wrote: > Josh Triplett wrote: > >>Consider someone writing Free Software under a contract with a >>particular business. (This is a common business model for Free >>Software.) The contractor is then distributing the software to that >>business (assuming that the contractor excluded work-for-hire in the >>contract; otherwise it would be internal distribution within a single >>legal entity). Commonly, the software would be private to that >>business. If this software is based on GPLed software, this model works >>fine: all those who received a binary can get source and have all the >>necessary freedoms, and they choose not to exercise their freedom to >>distribute. If this software is based on QPLed software, however, the >>model no longer works, because the contractor must also distribute a >>copy to the original developer of the QPLed software on request. > > Why is it necessary for a free software license to support certain > business models, especially when (say) the GPL prevents certain other > business models? The restriction in the GPL prevents you from taking away the rights of others; the restriction in the QPL allows the copyright holder to take away _your_ right to privacy. See below. >>The right to make private modifications is essential. > > People keep saying this, but nobody's said *why*. It's been pointed out > how the lack of this hurts certain people, but many license provisions > that we're entirely happy with hurt other people. That's far too general a statement. Figure out _who_ is being hurt by a given license provision, and then decide if we should care: * The GPL's copyleft hinders people who want to write GPL-incompatible software based on the GPLed software. In the vast majority of cases, this consists of people who want to write proprietary software. * The QPL hinders people who want to write software that is not publically distributed, even if that software is Free Software. To me, being required *to* distribute the software seems as bad as being required *not to* distribute the software. - Josh Triplett
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