[plug] [article] Open Code Market (OCM)

[Cameron Patrick]

On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 11:16:53AM +0800, Mike Holland wrote:

| > If the GPL is to be a legally-binding contract then...well...isn't
| 
| How could the GPL be a contract? A major point of the GPL is you don't
| need to seek permission. A need to sign a contract would break the spirit
| of the GPL.

I am not a lawyer, but Jeremy Malcolm is, and he spoke about such things
at LCA in January.  He was explaining the differences between contracts
and licences and such then - IIRC he said software licences != contracts.

http://mirror.wa.3fl.net/pub/lca2003-iso/loopback/papers/Jeremy_Malcolm/Abstract.html

| > > # The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
| >
| > That is patently untrue. The GPL might work flawlessly in an all-GPL
| > world, but that is not the world we live in. The GPL intentionally
| > limits people's ability to exercise freedom #2. (Aside: I wonder if
| 
| You are not free to take away those freedoms from others. That is the only
| limit. The age-old conflict between personal and societal freedom.

Hmm.  The GPL /does/ require you to offer the source code to whoever you
distribute binaries to, though.  Perhaps that's what James was muttering
about?

| > to limit freedom for personal gain (e.g. I have heard Hans Reiser using
| > the GPL in this way -- not that he's a bad person). BTW I don't claim to
| 
| Whats that mean?

Hans Reiser, as I understand it, lost his rag when Debian removed the
page-long advert for his employer from mkreiserfs, and claimed that the
GPL required the ad to be kept.  The cdrecord guy kicked up a fuss when
people patched cdrecord to burn DVDs too - and he is selling commercial
DVD-recording software.  (Although in the latter case, ISTR that either the
dvdrecord people were in violation of the GPL or the cdrecord licence
was "GPL with strings attached.")

Cameron.

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