From bob@RATTLESNAKE.COM Mon Aug 13 12:52:49 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: bob@rattlesnake.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_1); 13 Aug 2001 19:52:48 -0000 Received: (qmail 36254 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2001 19:52:46 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by l9.egroups.com with QMQP; 13 Aug 2001 19:52:46 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO localhost) (140.186.114.245) by mta2 with SMTP; 13 Aug 2001 19:52:45 -0000 Received: by rattlesnake.com via sendmail from stdin id (Debian Smail3.2.0.111) for lojban@yahoogroups.com; Mon, 13 Aug 2001 19:52:39 +0000 (UTC) Message-Id: Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 19:52:39 +0000 (UTC) To: pycyn@aol.com Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com In-reply-to: <10f.3b3c7a9.28a97d2c@aol.com> (pycyn@aol.com) Subject: Re: [lojban] New to lojban, any suggestions? Reply-to: bob@rattlesnake.com References: <10f.3b3c7a9.28a97d2c@aol.com> From: "Robert J. Chassell" > He has a pencil ... > > He wants to sharpen it so it writes better -- > Damn, he is a cultist snob for wanting to do that. > (Illegal to modify.) > > He wants to sell it -- > Damn, he is a cultist snob for wanting to do that. > (Illegal to sell.) > > He wants to give it to a friend -- > Damn, he is a cultist snob for wanting to do that. > (Illegal to give away.) > > He wants a choice of whom he buys pencils from -- > Damn, he is a cultist snob for wanting to do that. > (No choice of vendors.) > > He wants to break the pencil -- > Damn, he is a cultist snob for wanting to do that. > (Again, illegal to modify.) > > He wants the freedom to all these things with his software. > > As another person said, he is `un-American' .... > Cute analogy. Not a good one, but cute. A man has a bought a book it took its author 20 years to write. He wants to change a few things in it... Well, if he wants you to change a few things in it, he should choose a license that permits you to do that. If, on the contrary, he does not want you to change things, he should choose a different license. I am here talking about software. Many developers, like cooks with their recipes, like having their technology improved. So they choose a license that permits you to make improvements (and which obligates you, if you publish your work, to permit the original writer to use those improvements to his own work.) If you do not want others to fix bugs or make improvements to your work, choose a different license. I picked the pencil analogy because it is close: when you buy a pencil, you come to own it. You have the legal right to sharpen it, sell it, give it away, or break it. So long as you don't hurt others with it, by stabbing them, for example, you can do what you want with your property. You have a certain freedom. You can do what you want with some kinds of software, too. What you may do depends on the legal and practical restrictions or lack thereof, imposed on the software package. You called me `a cultist snob' for wanting to do what I like with my own property. Others have called me `un-American' for the same desire for freedom. Well, it is not snobbish or un-American to want freedom, and to fight for it. It is basic. -- Robert J. Chassell bob@rattlesnake.com Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com