[NCLUG] Re: Linux World domination (was "Re: NCLUG Digest...", etc.)

[Sean Reifschneider]

John L. Bass wrote:
> GPL take that one step farther, and uses that same right, to give away
> your work to the public, and prevent others from profiting from it.
> 
> Questioning any authors right to profit from their work, *IS*
> questioning the "right of authorship".

I can't make sense of what you're trying to say here.  I think you're
trying to say that the GPL is *FORCING* authors to give away their work
without profit.  But that's absolutely not true.  It's not that the GPL is
stealing this work from the authors and giving it away.

The *AUTHORS* are *CHOOSING* to give it away, and the GPL is *ALLOWING*
them to make that choice.  The GPL also doesn't prevent authors from
profiting from their work.  The author still has the control to release
something they have released as GPLed under a different license as well
(called "dual licensing").

In other words, I as an author can say:

   If you're willing to distribute source to anything you build based on
   this software, you I don't want you to pay me anything for it.

   However, if you do not want to release source code, you need to pay me.

The GPL or FSF doesn't control the above, it's the authors who control it.
Releasing some software under the GPL doesn't prevent an author from
profiting from the code.  It just doesn't.

QT is the most obvious example I can think of this.  It's available GPLed,
but also under a proprietary license.

> So, how about thinking, rather than the personal attacks?

The above sentence is more a personal attack than anything I read in
Scott's message.  Could it be that you are imaging a personal attack where
none is intended?

Sean
-- 
Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995: Ask me about High Availability

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