[Discuss] OSS licenses (was Home NAS redux)

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey (blu))]

> From: Mark Woodward [mailto:markw at mohawksoft.com]
> 
> What gives you the
> moral or ethical right to create a non-free product with that free
> software you got for free? 

What gives me the right to use a free product, such as vi or emacs, to write non-free software?

The answer is of course, the license terms.  THAT is what gives me the right.  I'm talking about the legal right, not the moral or ethical right.

The law is about damages.  If you don't cause damage to somebody, they can't sue you.  (More correctly, the plaintiff can't win unless they can prove damages.)  So as long as you don't cause damage to anyone, you're not hurting anyone.  And this answers the "moral or ethical" part of your question, as well as the legal part of your question.