Bruce Perens on OSI

[Jim]

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Sit, grasshopper.  Listen and learn.

You released your superfantastic program under the GPL.  With that act, you 
did not give up any of your rights as the author, but you did give certain 
freedoms to the recipient - the freedom to run the program (for any purpose), 
the freedom to redistribute the program ( with or without a charge), the 
freedom to modify the program, and the freedom to distribute any modified 
version of the program.   The GPL restrictions apply to me if i redistribute 
the program, modified or not.  The GPL requires me to insure that whatever I 
redistribute has at least the same freedoms that I received.

Noticeably absent from any provision in the GPL is the price I may charge 
either for a copy of the original program or any modified version.  The GPL 
guarantees the four freedoms but does not restrict me from charging whatever 
the market may bear for copies of the program.  It also allows you to compete 
with my distribution/redistribution because you can either market the 
original program at a lower cost - even free or sell my modified version, 
because the GPL applies to the changes that I have made.

Go ponder, grasshopper.

On Friday 02 August 2002 17:02, you wrote:
> > As Derek clearly pointed out, there is NO licensed software (well, ok -
> > very little ) on any of my machines.  I like it that way.  If I should
> > ever develop the need and the talent to modify any of my software and
> > redistribute it, even freely to the members of PLUG, or should I give (or
> > sell) copies of that software, only then am I faced with complying with
> > the terms of the GPL. - --
> > Jim
>
> 	Hi, everyone.  As Hans pointed out, I am Kyle from EMR.  Now on to the
> issue at hand.
>
> 	The GPL does not apply only at the moment you redistribute a program.  It
> must apply the first time the original author distributes a program.  Take
> the following example:
>
> 	I write the finest program the world has ever seen, called "Kyle's
> Greatest Duck Calculator and Redivisibilator.  (KGDCR).  Jim happens to be
> getting his doctorate degree CompSci with a specialty in programs that do
> Duck Calculation and Redivisibilation.  I release my program under the GPL
> (though it is so great maybe I should have charged for it ;).  The
> knowledge that Jim can gain from eyeballing my source code, and the
> algorithms involved in KGDCR could be earth shattering.  Without
> distributing my code, and if the statement that the software is unlicensed
> (for him) until he personally does so is valid, the KGDCR is public domain
> (public domain defined here as software with no license whatsoever), Jim
> can gain insight that he otherwise would not have and not credit me
> (assuming he was the only person who has seen the code so far so no one
> caught it).  I realize that there are a lot of assumptions in that sentence
> but none of them are outlandish (other than me writing such great
> software).  Once something enters the public domain, it cannot be
> retrieved.  Saying something is unlicensed until you distribute it is a
> "Schroedinger's Cat" approach to software licensing, and I, for one, would
> like to believe that the KGDCR is not a dead cat.  Because it really is a
> great program, you should try it some time ;)
>
> 	My second point would be that Click-through on GPL software differs
> greatly from the "signing for a cash purchase" analogy.  When I buy
> something for $1 at the grocery store, I can open a stand outside and sell
> it again to someone walking in for $2.  If the product was GPL'd, I would
> have to add value to it before I could charge for it.  The store
> relinquishes all rights to products when I purchase them (cash, credit,
> check, anything).  I do not relinquish all my rights to my software when I
> release it under the GPL.  You cannot merely compile my open code and sell
> it.  That is the difference.  Just because I give you MORE freedoms with
> *PL'd code does not mean I give them ALL to you.  THAT is public domain.
>
> Just my view of the world, yours my differ, but don't expect me to live
> there ;0
>
> Kyle Faber
> ________________________________________________
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- -- 
Jim

Freedom is worth protecting

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