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by AmazingBytecode 5249 days ago
I'm not saying it's OK to violate the terms of open source licenses, but the GPL has never fit with my idea of what Free Software should be like. I see Free Software as a gift given to the world as a whole, regardless of what they plan to do with it. Thus I see GNU and the FSF as terrible gift-givers.
2 comments
HerraBRE 5249 days ago
Free Software is not a gift. That is where you go wrong. Just because you want it to be does not make it so.

Free Software, as advocated by the FSF and many others, is an attempt to remedy the ethical problems posed by closed source software, which has a strong tendency to lead to monopolistic behavior and unfair power balance between the consumer and the producer of a program.

Free Software may be many other things as well, depending on who is writing the software and releasing the code, but it's almost never a gift. The developers almost always want something in return, whether that is recognition, assistance with development or support for their ideals.

People who give software as a gift, release it into the Public Domain or use the most liberal of the BSD licenses. :-P Those who chose other licenses, do so for reasons you should respect if you intend to benefit from their work.

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AmazingBytecode 5248 days ago
"Those who chose other licenses, do so for reasons you should respect if you intend to benefit from their work." Of course. Authors are free to release software under whatever terms they like, and people who use the software are bound to abide by those terms. Let me be clear, I don't think that it's OK to violate the GPL. I was just saying that I don't really like the GPL.
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SomeOtherGuy2 5248 days ago
>Free Software is not a gift

Yes it is, that is what free means. Check a dictionary.

>Free Software, as advocated by the FSF and many others

The FSF doesn't actually get to re-define the word free to mean "mandates the set of restrictions we desire".

>People who give software as a gift, release it into the Public Domain or use the most liberal of the BSD licenses

Both of which are free software.

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rickmb 5249 days ago
The GPL and the concept of keeping software free permanently embodies the very definition of Free Software.

What you're saying is "the absence of color doesn't fit my idea of what black should be, I see black as having a little touch of yellow in it".

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AmazingBytecode 5248 days ago
Alright, Free Software isn't the appropriate term for the type of open-source license that I appreciate. I apologize for my poor choice of terms.
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