From: Benjamin R. <Ben...@ep...> - 2004-10-27 17:41:47
|
Hi SourceForge.net, "SourceForge.net" writes: > The so touted idiom 'free as in freedom' is such a big irony in that > it *forces* you to accept what is labeled as 'freedom'. It is free when seen against the backdrop of proprietary software like e.g. MS Word. The GPL limitations are intended as a guarantee that the freedom to use the source is not abused, but instead is propagated to derived works. E.g. MS used the BSD IP stack in Windows, but rarely, if ever, even acknowledges that. That couldn't legally happen with GPL code. GPL code doesn't help you write proprietary (closed source) code and the authors would say that that is a good thing. If they don't want to help you there, that is their rightfull choice. OTOH, the GPL is not a problem if your code is and will always be Open Source. benny |