From bob@RATTLESNAKE.COM Tue Mar 27 15:32:49 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: bob@rattlesnake.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_0_4); 27 Mar 2001 23:32:48 -0000 Received: (qmail 59950 invoked from network); 27 Mar 2001 23:32:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by m8.onelist.org with QMQP; 27 Mar 2001 23:32:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO megalith.rattlesnake.com) (140.186.114.245) by mta3 with SMTP; 28 Mar 2001 00:33:50 -0000 Received: by rattlesnake.com via sendmail from stdin id (Debian Smail3.2.0.111) for lojban@yahoogroups.com; Tue, 27 Mar 2001 18:32:45 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 18:32:45 -0500 (EST) To: rlpowell@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com In-reply-to: <20010327165422.J11825@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca> (message from Robin Lee Powell on Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:54:23 -0500) Subject: Re: [lojban] jbofi'e version 0.36 released Reply-to: bob@rattlesnake.com References: <20010327223944.B334@rrbcurnow.freeuk.com> <20010327165422.J11825@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca> X-eGroups-From: "Robert J. Chassell" From: "Robert J. Chassell" X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 6251 > - Switch to GNU General Public License > license) GAAAAAKKKK! Ummm, are you _sure_ that you want to make it impossible for people to make commercial software based on jbofi'e? Robin, what do you mean? The GPL *guarantees* that *anyone* can make commercial software based on jbofi'e. With the GPL, you can sell software, you can give it away, you can change it, you can do what you like; but you may not take aways others rights. You are forbidden to forbid. It is a different kind of license, what the games theory people call a `sucker license', such as the BSD license, that makes it possible for one company to take Richard's work and prevent him and you and anyone else from using a derivation of Richard's work, even if you are the person making the changes and your changes are somewhat different from theirs and independently. Remember, the GPL guarantees your and others freedom. It does not let anyone else take it away, whether from the author or from anyone else. The BSD license does permit that: taking even from the author. (That was the intent, since the US military, the funding agency for BSD, was trying to subsidize US companies. The authors were paid for `work for hire'.) Over the past 15 years or so, people have tried this sort of attack against GPL'd software more than once a year. By `this sort of attack', I mean an action that is not accidental and is not cured by a simple email, but an attack that requires having FSF lawyers send a legal letter saying FSF will sue in court unless the company abides by the license and permits other people work commercially and non-commercially with the software. Most of the people in the world are decent and honorable; but not everyone. And remember, if you ever get into this deeper, `derived work' is a legal term -- it means what courts say it means... -- Robert J. Chassell bob@rattlesnake.com Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com