On Sun, 2008-04-27 at 19:44 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote: > Francis Earl wrote: > >> Yes, I understand that is why the large companies are involved and why > >> they want to protect their own interests at the expense of their users. > >> However, that is not why a lot of open source software is written, and > >> a lot that was originally written without such restrictions has > >> subsequently had the viral GPL applied. > > > > Large companies are involved in open source because it is more cost > > effective to provide your share of the total R&D rather than the entire > > R&D. > > And because the GPL provides the anti-competitive means to keep others > from improving the product in ways you might like better without them > being able to offer it too. How is it anti-competitive to ensure in legal terms that everyone plays nicely with each other? Please let me know. > > GPL is designed to EMPOWER users, to give the control BACK to the user. > > You should read the GNU Manifesto some time. > > Technically, users are permitted to do anything they want - the > restrictions apply only to redistribution. However, most people don't > want to write all of their own code or couldn't even if they tried, so > for all practical purposes, the GPL simply limits what you can get. They can give the software to their friend, instill it on as many machines as they want - these are both things that effect EVERYONE. The other rights ensure longevity of the code, and extensive peer review, which betters the quality of the code... again, benefiting everyone. > >> I'm speaking from a user's perspective, not a distributor making money > >> on support. I'd much rather not have any such restrictions prohibiting > >> others from improving the code under their own terms. I'd rather make > >> up my own mind about those terms. Tivo's OS-X, etc. are all good things > >> from a consumer perspective. > > > > Use the livna repo if you do not care about such restrictions. > > I do care about the legal issues and they aren't going to go away. So what exactly are you arguing about? RedHat is attempting to change the way the IT industry works to empower YOU, to give YOU control and choice, and keep the corporations honest. Microsoft can do whatever they want, if they do something bad, your only choices are to learn a new OS, or live with it. In the Linux space, you just switch distro. > > For what > > it's worth, a Tivo is a Linux box. > > And part of the reason for GPLv3 was to make such things more difficult. > The FSF isn't doing you any favors. They wanted to ensure a strategy Tivo partook in didn't happen again, Tivo tried to steal code from people that didn't want it used that way. It was a legal loophole so they can benefit solely, that isn't ok in the FOSS world... If I stole your credit cards, transferred the money to my account, and gave the card back, you wouldn't feel too good about that, would you? How about if I justified it saying "you can still use the card", would that make it ok? No, code is money. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
