Re: Mostly free software...
[ this thread should be on debian-discuss ]
On Thu, Mar 25, 1999 at 09:26:05PM +0200, Fabrizio Polacco wrote:
> > Such a license is certainly not "free enough" for me. What if there
> > is a bug in the regression test? What if I need a feature that breaks
> > compatibility with the regression test?
Me neither, I was just pointing it out.
> This is exactly like the revocation license: the want you to work
> gratis for them (as the Trolls did) and also want to keep the
> possibility to close all when the development is complete.
I don't think Larry intends to close everything up. He's someone who
has, IIRC, done a fair amount for Linux. I think what he wants is not
to work gratis for *us*, which is also understandable.
> We should fight loudly these "clever" guys. They are worse than M$.
I think licenses like this are a danger to truly free software. See
the success of mysql at the expense of postgresql...
OTOH, I don't see anyone coming up with good ways to pay people to
*develop* free software, so I can't really be too harsh with those of
us who don't want to give up things like a house, wife, children, car,
but who still want to write software for a living.
I admire and respect RMS for his total dedication to free software,
but at the same time, I think that, frankly, it's ludicrous to expect
someone to not want some sort of compensation for their efforts
talents and time.
Hmph,
--
David N. Welton | Fortune rota volvitur - descendo minoratus
davidw@prosa.it | alter in altum tollitur - nimis exaltatus
http://www.efn.org/~davidw | rex sedet in vertice - caveat ruinam!
www.debian.org - www.prosa.it | nam sub axe legimus - Hecubam reginam
P.S. - maybe we should make an addition to Godwin's law stating that,
at least for our Linux purposes, comparison to M$ also ends a
thread;-)
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