OT: Note to Tim

[Dennis Kibbe]

On Friday 05 July 2002 11:28 pm, Voltage Spike wrote:
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> On Friday 05 July 2002 20:43, Dennis Kibbe wrote:
> > Using that logic it would be OK for M$ to take GPLed code and incorporate
> > it in XP and not tell. No "real" harm done, right?
> >
> > You make it sound as if a wrong is a wrong only if blood is spillt.
>
> What if they have?  Do you know about it?  Is anybody hurt because of it
> (besides the author's feelings)?
>
> Besides, the way you quoted made me look bad.  ;-)  I had stated that it
> was not an inherint wrong.  It is a victimless crime, and we do it every
> day.  If I tell you a funny joke, and you tell someone else, should I go
> around saying you have "wronged" me?  99.9% of our ideas come from others,
> but we don't go around giving out slips of paper crediting every entity we
> had ever come into contact with.
>
> It is a tough situation, and it all comes down to respect.  In the case of
> copyright infringement like we have been discussing, the only "wrong" is
> that we did respect the author's wishes.  I try to be a better person than
> that, but that doesn't mean everyone has to agree.
>
> - --
> 						Voltage Spike


My fear is that as Linux gains a foothold in business (and with the general 
public) there will be more pressure to "bend the rules"  in the name of 
profit. By that I mean look the other way if the GPL is violated.

If, say, UnitedLinux became as much of a monopoly as Windows, and evolved into 
a product that was licensed per seat, could we all end up illegally "sharing" 
Linux with our neighbors?

In the past I've "shared" Photoshop and PageMaker, but I don't any more for 
these reasons.

1. I run Linux :-) (I know, not everything in commercial distros is GPL)
2. If I want others to respect the terms of the GPL, I better respect other 
licenses as well otherwise I'd be a hypocrite.
3. Playing by the rules of proprietary licenses forces me to think about the 
freedoms I'm giving up when I use proprietary software.
4. It gives me an opportunity to spread the gospel according to RMS.

- Dennis