Re: New idea for finessing patent issues (was: lame (again!))
On 19-May-01, 20:15 (CDT), Barak Pearlmutter <bap@cs.unm.edu> wrote:
> Vendors of proprietary software use click-through licenses all the
> time.
Vendors of proprietary software ship binary only software all the time.
Vendors of proprietary software forbid reverse engineering all the time.
Vendors of proprietary software forbid modification all the time.
Vendors of proprietary software require NDA agreements, forbid published
comparisons to competing programs, require per-user licenses, put in
deliberate security "back-doors", otherwise play games that abuse their
customers. All the time.
Debian doesn't do any of those things. The fact that proprietary
software vendors engage in those acts is not an argument in favor of
Debian doing the same. (Nor is it an argument against doing it, either.)
> I don't see why we
> can't avail ourselves of the same mechanisms, or why they would work
> for other distributors but not for Debian.
Whether or not it would work is irrelevant. It is completely against the
open spirit of Debian. The mere choice of words for the subject line
("finessing") shows that it is an attempt to do something sneaky.
> But you seem to have some kind of in-principle objection to the idea,
> even assuming it passes muster with lawyers?
Absolutely.
Steve
--
Steve Greenland <stevegr@debian.org>
(Please do not CC me on mail sent to this list; I subscribe to and read
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