On Mon, 2008-04-28 at 10:41 -0400, max bianco wrote: > On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 12:23 AM, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Which is a bizarre thing to be concerned about because the only thing they > > could possibly do to diminish the value of the original copy would be to > > improve it so much that no one would want the original. As a potential user > > of that improved version, I think that restriction is a bad thing. And most > > bizarre of all is the notion that I can't obtain my own copy of a GPL'd > > library, and someone else's code under their own terms separately. > > > The hard work is done by the original author. So if I understand you > correctly, its ok with you if i use your code, improve it, and > relicense it so what you freely contributed is now going to cost you > money. So your hard work now belongs to someone else. I thought that the case for using GPL'd code was that someone else could modify your code freely, but they would have to submit the changes and improvements back to the original "author" for approval to be used in the next release cycle of the project. The original "author" of the work has the right to include as many of the improvements as he wishes, AS LONG as the producer of the changes and improvements was noted publicly in the contributor's file. So far, no problems. But, the person making the improvements is free to use his own code any way he wants, but may not create a new program using the old one, and call it his own and redistribute it under his own name. That's fair. Spider Robinson, a noted Sci-Fi author wrote extensively on the "Gift Debt" based economy. No cash being printed, only Gifts which were collected and given as the medium of exchange. To me, that is Linux. I create something and anyone using it has a "Gift Debt" to be paid to me. Again, not in terms of money, but in terms of your "labor" improving my code is a method of repayment. That's one way. Another would be to assist others to use it. Maybe expand on that and report features that the users wish to have back to the author. You do what you can, using your unique talents, to repay on your Gift-Debt. Maybe you weave baskets, so you send some baskets to pay on your debt. Whatever, it works as long as everyone agrees to honor their Gift Debt as moral people. You can find all about this notion in the "Red Mars" series. One heckuva read, based on the premise that we would send the very best shining examples of Humanity to Mars. Well, suppose these extremely gifted, highly educated and skilled people decide they all really hated the way Earth was ran and decided to create a better society on Mars, halfway through the trip?? They were all so smart that they managed to fool the shrinks that tested them before they left Earth. What would that better society be? First thing, they got rid of money. Money was never intended to "work" as "labor", which means Wall Street and the financial leeches disappear over night. Instead Labor, Services and Production were the tangibles and exchanged directly. I could be a Nuclear Scientist and you could be a Septic Tank Cleaner. Well, sooner or later I need your service. It would take a committee to decide how to spread my research costs and if nothing useful became produced, I don't get paid via the Gift Debt accounting to waste time and "PotLatch" meaning offering a bill for Gift Debt that wasn't useful. Better to sling burgers or work on the Air Scrubbers instead, it's useful to others. So, that's my take on this whole business. If you receive a benefit from someone's GPL'd code, then you owe SOMETHING back, and it doesn't have to be cash or coder skills, it might be just participating on this list trying to assist others and pay the Gift Debt forward. That's it in a nutshell, sounds easy to understand to me, looking at it like that. You just do as you are able and recognize that we all stand on the shoulders of giants. BTW, they didn't have problems with crime, they had the air-locks to throw people out from. <grins> Ric -- ================================================ My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say: "There are two Great Sins in the world... ..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity. Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad. Linux user# 44256 Sign up at: http://counter.li.org/ http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/oar http://www.wayward4now.net <---down4now too ================================================ -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
