Re: GPL vs. sweatshops (was Re: Bias)

Am Don, 2002-06-13 um 23.30 schrieb Deven T. Corzine:

> Given that the Winsock stuff in Windows was basically a port of Berkeley 
> sockets (as I understand it), this seems like it ought to be particularly 
> straightforward -- shouldn't most of it map directly into underlying Linux 
> sockets calls?  Is the Winsock area 100% implemented now?

:-)
Take a look at the Winsock manual, and you'll see it's different from
BSD. Take a look at the code, and you'll see it requires much more than
a 1:1 translation. Winsock is 100% I think, but Winsock2 isn't.

> From a practical standpoint, it would probably benefit the project if some 
> of the developers would make an effort to lower that barrier -- whether 
> that means writing documentation, mentoring new developers, or whatever.  
> Otherwise a lot of people who might have helped are likely to wander away 
> in frustration when they realize just how steep the learning curve is...

The old story - developers like to develop much more than to write docs.
Actually developers are pretty bad at writing docs that newbies can
understand. Moreover, there are only very few people who really
thoroughly understand wine's inner workings (I am not one of them), and
we need their coding work.

> I never criticized the switch, and even if I have some reservations about 
> the GPL, I have much less concern about the LGPL -- it's not nearly as 
> communicable a disease. :-)

I didn't say you criticized it, but others did.

> The problem is that those benefits tend to come with the side-effect of 
> someone else getting a much greater benefit, undeservedly by appearances.
> That's what makes it hard to accept, I think.

There is more to it. Think of people who may not have the funds to buy
the commercial stuff (consider a less wealthy country than your own).
Buy forcing others to distribute their improvements to your code freely,
you give these people the chance to lawfully participate in the
technical advancements. By allowing non-free commercial enhancements,
you force them to stick with the supposedly inferior version you have
written, or use black copies. 

Martin

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