Re: Proposal: Motif Widget set
From: Wichert Akkerman <wichert@soil.nl>
> Previously gk4@us.ibm.com wrote:
> > Therefore, it is not *required* for GUI applications and it is still
free
> > on Linux.
>
> You're missing the point here: Linux is not just about `free Linux', but
about
> Free Software in general. And something like `free on Linux' is just Not
Free.
Most of the GPL'd software isn't "free on XYZ/OS" within the context
of Open Motif. The vendors that I am aware of, as well as my own
employer, go to great steps to insure that the GPL doesn't pollute
their proprietary OS code.
The entire concept of "open source" has changed radically in the past
15 years. I happen to like the Motif license -- it gives incentive to make
a marginally profitable OS open source. If you read Stallman's remarks
on the =concept=, that is the objective. Provide "free" tools which
proprietary vendors may find useful, but which they are forbidden from
using unless they also make their code "free".
Nothing in the GPL prevents what has been done with Open Motif. A
person who releases code under the GPL is still free to sell a version
of that code which is based on a different branch of code. Several
years back I released Shadow under a BSD-like license with the
libraries separately being released until the LGPL. If I wanted to
(and could find someone willing to pay me ...) I could release a third
version under a "You must stand on your head and sing Kumbaya"
license.
The discussion should focus on whether or not there is any benefit
from including Motif in the LSB, not on the specific licensing terms as
they apply to other "non-free" systems. Including Motif would give
an incentive to vendors who wish to produce products on UNIX-like
systems but can't afford a system with a commercial Motif toolkit.
That benefit is definitely goodness for Linux.
As always, I don't speak for IBM, I just work there ...
-- Julie.
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