> "Jon M. Taylor" <taylorj@ecs.csus.edu> writes:
> >
> > On Mon, 13 Jul 1998, Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH wrote:
> >
> > > FreeBSD looks more appealing all the time.
> >
> > It isn't perfect either. People can "take code private", and thus
> > the code isn't really free - something that is truly free can never be
> > made unfree. See my other post on a proposal for a "FreeGPL" license that
> > attempts to take the best parts of the GPL and BSD licenses and combine
> > them into a truly free license.
>
> Nothing is ever going to be perfect. But the simple fact that you
> don't see pointless bickering about software licenses on freebsd lists
> should tell you something. :)
I don't agree with everything the FreeBSD license says, but it
does have the substantial virtue (that the GPL does not) of being
straightforward and unambiguous. I have other problems with the GPL
besides this, but I could live with those if the ambiguity was cleaned up.
IMHO the ambiguity is going to turn into a showstopper "bug" that will
render the whole GPL unuseable.
> Jesus, people. Do you realize how much time you're wasting with this
> discussion? There's an awful lot of code to write, and you're not
> helping matters at all.
It bothers me when I see people say this. In essence, you are
telling people to shut up and go away instead of trying to fix the problem
we have. I daresay that there isn't a bigger problem in the open
source/free software community at present than the problems that the
ambiguous language in the GPL has caused, is causing and will continue to
cause if something isn't done. Sticking your head in the sand and fixing
some driver bugs is not a smart thing to do when the foundation of our
universe is coming apart at the seams!
Jon
--- 'Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the first serious step in becoming one with God.' - Scientist G. Richard Seed
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.altern.org/andrebalsa/doc/lkml-faq.html