Re: Debian/GNU Freebsd
On Fri, 19 Feb 1999, Phillip R. Jaenke wrote:
>
> Nor should anyone else. I agree with a lot of what RMS believes. That
> doesn't mean I agree with everything. Nor does it mean I share the same
> viewpoints. I believe that it is wrong to allow any company to take my
> hard work, put it in a pretty box, and make money off of it. Especially
> without myself seeing a single cent of that money.
>
Then you believe free software is wrong. Anything meeting the DFSG or OSD
will permit this. So you aren't going to get a lot of support in this
forum. ;-)
> Put yourself in a different developer's shoes, for a moment. You've spent
> over 2 years working on a program, that you licensed under the GPL. Now
> it's stable, and everyone loves it. Now a company comes along, picks it
> up, puts their name on it, makes some modifications and improvements, and
> sells it. You wouldn't be very happy, would you?
>
I'm just fine with that.
> Oh, sure, you can get the code with their improvements! When you buy the
> product. And not a second sooner.
>
Correction: as soon as anyone I know buys the product. Then they will get
the code under the GPL, and they will give me a copy. And I'll fold it
into the main upstream version. That's what the GPL is for.
Personally I would be much more upset if the program was not GPL, and the
company did not release the source; that's why I don't use the X-style
license. But clearly there are lots of people who do use the X style
license, they choose to use it, and they *want* companies to be able to
take the code private. It's their software, so if they want that it's
their business.
Havoc
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