On Sun, 2003-03-09 at 14:49, Henning Makholm wrote: > Scripsit Mark Rafn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > 1) can software that forces a recipient to distribute it to non-recipient > > users still be considered free? > > > My answers are "no" and "no". > > True. Ever since I started reading debian-legal, one of the tests > applied when we consider the freedom of a license has been, "can it be > used in a business?"
That depends on the type of business, doesn't it? GPL'd software can't be made into proprietary software, and I see this issue as little different. > Like all DSFG freedoms, this actually means "can > it be used in a business without jumping through hoops?" Using > something in a business naturally means using it to produce some > product or service that customers pay for. Thus, it has always been > the intention that businesses can use DFSG-free software to produce > services sold for profit *without* jumping through hoops. The question is, then, whether (2)(d) is a hoop. I think it, or some variant of it, is such a minimal hoop that it doesn't fail DFSG 3. -- -Dave Turner Stalk Me: 617 441 0668 "On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock." -Thomas Jefferson
