Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:
On Fri, Dec 01, 2006 at 09:52:16PM -0700, Nate Duehr wrote:
Both the GPL *and* commercial licenses are ultimately based on FUD. If
you're scared of the consequences of simply taking some code and using
it as you please and/or the consequences of doing so: You want a
license to tell you how you may or may not use it.
Neither is Freedom. Both are restricted. Otherwise they wouldn't be
licenses.
If you simply do what you wish with whatever code you have, and accept
the consequences, whatever they might be, you don't need a license.
s/code/books/
Your argument does not hold. In the early days, so few people were
using code that it really didn't matter. As more people came along and
became education in programming and computer science, more people
started founding companies to develop software. These people realized
that like a book, someone could copy it without permission and sell
those copies without the original author getting the benefit. That is
called copyright. It has existed for a very long time.
Totally unrelated to my point. In fact, you completely missed it.
I can send you some non-GPL'ed non-Copyrighted code right now. Would
you like some?
You're adding things that simply don't need to exist. They *do* exist
for *some* code, including GPL'ed code, but licensing of ANY sort
(including Copyright, which is nothing more than another contrived
license allowed by law in many places) *restricts* the use of code in
some fashion. The only truly FREE code is code without any license at all.
Code does NOT inherently *require* licensing or Copyright. You just
think it does.
What would you like me to send you? A two line BASIC program?
10 PRINT "HELLO"
20 GOTO 10
Look - there you go. Free code. No Copyright, no license. Freely
distributed.
I would tell you to do with it what you wish, but that would insinuate
that you need to follow my wishes. You don't. It has no license or
copyright. (Many countries call this "Public Domain".) You may
incorporate my code into your own works freely without any encumberances
of any kind. Enjoy. Or don't. Your choice.
Do you get it now?
I'm not arguing for or against the GPL, just pointing out that code
doesn't need to be licensed just because anyone (or even a majority of
anyone) says it does.
Nate
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