🚀 go-pugleaf

In <NcLHeB11w164w@mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk (en font terrible) writes:

>epstein@sunc2.cs.uiuc.edu (Milt Epstein) writes:
>> In <0cHceB10w164w@mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk (en font terrible) writes
>> >> The only people who don't benefit right now are the people who don't want
>> >> to share their software.
>> >
>> >False.  Those who want their software to be completely free are also unable
>> >to benefit.
>> 
>> You seem to be meaning "completely free" in a sense that includes
>> those who would want to control access to the code they write that
>> includes code contributed by others.  That makes the software less
>> "free", since once it is used by those, it will no longer be free.
>
>Bollocks.  Once software which is completely free is used by those who wish
>to control access, it REMAINS completely free.  If Apple grab a copy of
>Elvis and release it for profit under a restrictive license, Elvis is still
>free.  I can still get source code.
>
>*Derivative* works based on the software are less free than they would be
>if the original software were under the GPL.  But it's nonsense to say that
>free software becomes less free when it is used by someone who places
>restrictions on it.

You seem to be agreeing that eventually some software is "less free"
than if the original work were under the GNU license.

OK, I'll be more precise in what I meant.  GNU seems to have as its
goal "making ALL software COMPLETELY FREE (of restrictions)" -- I
capitalized the two aspects of the goal.  These two aspects interact.
People say that GNU software does not meet the COMPLETELY FREE aspect
of this goal, since it is not free to be used in work that will later
restrict the code.  It seems that the reason this type of use is not
allowed is that it affects the ALL aspect of the goal.  So, in some
sense, GNU trades off being COMPLETELY FREE to capture more of the ALL
-- since both aspects of the goal together are not possible.
Otherwise, they would have to trade off on the ALL, which they deem an
inferior alternative (especially since the one use of the software
that they are restricting is exactly the type of use they are trying
to eliminate).

-- 
Milt Epstein
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois
epstein@cs.uiuc.edu