Author: Bruce Moreland
Date: 13:01:35 11/12/98
Go up one level in this thread
On November 11, 1998 at 20:33:46, Dann Corbit wrote: >On November 11, 1998 at 19:33:40, Bruce Moreland wrote: >>On November 11, 1998 at 15:14:41, Dann Corbit wrote: >> >>>I don't like copyleft[1]. >>>The right way to give away software is public domain, or like this: >>>http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE-copying.html >>>if you want to retain copyright and still give it away. >>> >>>[1] For some purposes, such as acedemic use, copyleft may be a good way to go, >>>since it *forces* everyone to give away all future development. On the other >>>hand, why not just make it public domain? >>> >>>copyleft is evil. >> >>I think it is useful if you feel like you written a cool thing, make the choice >>not to make money off of it, and want to make sure that someone else doesn't >>just smack some veneer on it and start charging people for it. >Well, I have to admit that I am *way* too rabid on the topic. Of course, >copyleft provides *no* protection for the above. Else, how could the Redhat >Linux folks be charging $50 for a CD? Is that money going to Linus Torvalid? I >am sure that there is real utility in copyleft for a lot of occasions, and think >that surely it does have value for a lot of people. I do think that some >persons do not think through all ramifications. I think the thing that jades me >the most is that I am from the old ACM days. People would invent an algorithm >and then publish it just for the joy of finding it. Those days seem to be gone. > Sniff :-( ... Do I hear violins playing a sad song in the background? > >Really, I have no problem whatsoever with other people copylefting things right >and left. It just grates on *me* personally. Quite frankly, I was in fear of a >Linux advocacy thread because I run such a hot fever on this topic, and yet I am >the progenitor of all the argument. > >I do hereby swear that all future Linux advocacy and copyleft goo in this thread >will be followed up by me *only* via email. And sorry for the off-topic >rambles. If you got the impression that this bugged me, this is a false impression. I worked for Microsoft for a long time, so I'm not the most Unix/Linux/Gnu informed person in the world, and I found this to be personally interesting. It's also on topic because we might see more copyleft chess software out there, and there's also the case of the people who want to sell their program but use the Gnu compiler, and might wonder if they are going to get hassled by Richard Stallman. As a chess software developer (in theory), it is interesting to me to see what potential customers want. If there is in fact this growing wad of power-user gear-head chess-idiot Linux-freaks out there, then someone might find it profitable to support them with products, even though their mom's all use Windows and like it. There's also the issue of "Chess Wars", which was a UI slapped on GnuChess and sold without source or any other indication that it was GnuChess under there other than a few signatures in the binary. If people understand copyleft better maybe they won't be inclined to do things like this in the future. bruce
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