[Discuss] Why use Linux?

[abreauj at gmail.com (John Abreau)]

This is turning into yet another copy of the same old tired argument that
we'll never agree on. One definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the
same thing and expecting different results, and this argument certainly
qualifies as such.

I think it would be best if we drop it at this point.


On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:37 PM, Richard Pieri <richard.pieri at gmail.com>wrote:

> Robert Krawitz wrote:
>
>> Actually, I'd say that if anything the GPL is weighted toward
>> users-as-developers -- ensuring that users can be developers
>> themselves.
>>
>
> At the expense of the original developers.
>
> Try this on for size (this also addresses Mark's point and the other
> Mark's failure to read all the words). Say I write a POP3 library for GNU
> Emacs. Say that instead of signing over the rights to the FSF I instead
> decide to sell it under the GPL. You buy my library. The terms of the GPL
> require me to provide you with the source code, which I do. You then turn
> around and sell that same code on the open market.
>
> This is Mark's point: the GPL does not allow me to reserve exclusive sales
> rights. That would be more restrictive than the GPL itself and therefore is
> not permitted by the GPL.
>
> This is tangentially my point: you as a non-developer end user get to
> profit from my work with minimal or no effort of your own.
>
> It doesn't matter what you say. What matters is the terms of the license
> and the protections those terms afford. The terms of the GPL have always
> been heavily weighted against commercial developers of all sorts and not
> just the proprietary ones.
>
> --
> Rich P.
>
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-- 
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
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