Re: xemacs wiki

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eli Zaretskii" <[email protected]>
To: "Ben Wing" <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>;
<[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 8:39 AM
Subject: Re: xemacs wiki


> > From: "Ben Wing" <[email protected]>
> > Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 01:08:23 -0700
> >
> > the whole point of free software (even as enumerated in the writings of the
> > great rms himself!) is to free us from having to worry about restrictive
> > licenses getting in the way of sharing code.  isn't this all a bit too
ironic?
>
> Not in principle: the GPL itself imposes certain restrictions on you:
> you are NOT free to distribute the sources of any derivative work.

???  i don't understand this at all.

>
> So the mere fact that a license imposes restrictions does not yet
> make that license obnoxious.
>
> > is the only [practical] purpose for the fdl the ability to force people to
> > distribute ads such as the GNU manifesto?
>
> Since you don't _have_ to use invariant sections in your manuals, you
> don't need to be worried about this.  Simply say ``with no Invariant
> Sections'', and be done with that.
>
> And before everyone pounces on me, let me say that I don't intend to
> defend the FDL: I don't feel I know enough about the subject matter to
> even make up my mind.  I simply don't think it's justified to accuse
> the GFDL in every possible crime against free speech, that's all.
> Whatever it is wrong about the GFDL, it's not that bad, after all.

[ok, slightly off topic]

honestly, i wonder whether the gpl has had any practical effect on the
development of free software at all.  perhaps this may be heretical or simply
unkind, but perl has obviously not been hindered by not having a virus-license,
nor have *BSD or x windows -- in all three cases, in fact, commercial versions
WERE made (and quite a number for X), but the free versions outlasted them all.
(and imo the success of linux over bsd had little if anything to do with it
being gpl'ed and much to do with other reasons -- linus, for one; the excitement
of working on something completely *new* rather than already somewhat done and
not even completely free; the timing issues; the netbsd/freebsd/openbsd split,
which was due to personality problems in some of the netbsd people in
particular; a lot of momentum was lost removing the "encumbered" stuff, during
which Linux already had a lot of momentum; the "bazaar" method adopted by Linus
from the beginning, but not until much later, if at all, by *BSD; i could go on,
but Linus himself is clearly the biggest reason.)

ben