Re: Darwin Streaming Server
On 31 Oct 2001, Shaya Potter wrote:
> so basically, since they decide to be a little leniant in some regards,
> they are considered DFSG non-free, while if they would have removed the
> leniency from the license, they would be considered DFSG free.
>
> I'll be blunt, I find that extremely stupid (or perhaps, I'm just the
> stupid one).
>
> In a way, one could say that Perl is not free because since you can
> license it under the Artistic License or the GPL, since they are
> slightly different, depending on how you license it, you will be treated
> differently, therefore since some people (for what ever reason) might be
> forced to license it under one or the other, its effectivly
> discriminating against them. This can apply to any multiply licensed
> software (mozilla?)
No, there's a difference here. When using mozilla or, for that matter,
OpenOffice, you're free to choose whatever license you want. If you
prefere the terms of the MPL over the NPL, you can use mozilla under those
terms. If you, however, prefer it the other way around, that's no problem
either.
In the case of APSL, *you* don't have the freedom to choose your license,
since Apple did that for you.
> Basically, if I decide to release software I write under a DFSG free
> license, albiet a strict one, its considered DFSG free.
>
> If I then decide to lessen the restrictions on a certian class of
> individuals, why did I just make my DFSG free license, a DFSG free
> license?
You have the freedom to change your license to anyone, if you can come to
an agreement with those people. If you do this, you're not making it a
non-free piece of software, since other people may be able to come to an
agreement with you too; this is not considered discrimination. It would be
if you'd say that you will only accept an agreement with a certain class
of people. Discrimination is always non-free, since it takes away people's
freedom to choose the license terms that best fit their needs.
--
wouter dot verhelst at advalvas dot be
"Human knowledge belongs to the world"
-- From the movie "Antitrust"
Reply to: