Mike Bilow wrote: > > None of this makes a bit of difference. You are making a very obvious > error by failing to realize that different authors may elect to put their > works under GPL with different intent and different motivation. You are > reading too much into the mental process behind the author's action, while > what is really relevant is the commitment that author makes through the > actual written words of the GPL. In this case, the GPL -- like any public > document -- should mean the same thing in terms of effect to all people, > and it is a mistake to go beyond its wording.
I know that I was first worried about the old switcharoo that we accept the GPL now and later it will be interpreted differently. I believe you (and others) have convinced me otherwise. > I think it is obvious, and Stallman has stated as much, that he > believes the bulk of the current system of intellectual property law > to be morally wrong, and that the GPL was created specifically to > subvert that system by turning its own weapons on itself. Yes, this is what I've been missing. It's just hard to get educated enough to understand the above. It took me years and your patients and the patients of others and a reply from RMS himself (and I might still have it wrong). I think it is difficult sailing for the unwary to run across the GPL copyright; stare it straight in the eye and say, "You're no copyright; you're a stopgap." Socially speaking, it seems using the GPL is like signing a petition. I wonder how many people who say they support the GPL mean that they support the right of the author to choose the GPL -- which, to me, means they do not support the larger social program of which the GPL plays such a large part. I would like to see the intended consequences of the entire social program explicitly stated in the preamble to the GPL so that people like me don't end up accidentally saying they support something they don't. I would greatly appreciate your letting me know how you came to realize the full social consequences of the GPL. You say it is obvious, but would you agree that it is not generally distributed along with the GPL. Paul Serice
