Re: [linux-audio-dev] New form of GPL licence that protects Linux from proprietary world [was: New powermacs?]

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Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] New form of GPL licence that protects Linux from proprietary world [was: New powermacs?]
From: Marc Lavallée (odradek_AT_videotron.ca)
Date: Mon Jun 23 2003 - 02:28:21 EEST


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Le 22 Juin 2003 13:46, Ivica Bukvic a écrit :

> Again, please read what I've stated and then respond. I am not
> advocating the change of GPL, but creating a new derived license which
> simply ensures that the efforts of the open-source community primarily
> benefit (gasp!) us, the open-source community, not some company with
> monopolistic agenda, regardless how successful (Msft) or unsuccessful
> they are (Apple).

Guess what: your derived license would be incompatible with the GPL or any
OSI license. You don't understand what free software is. Including free
software within closed source software is wrong, but allowing free
software to run on any platform is good, as long as the source code is
released. The restrictions imposed by the GPL are meant to make sure that
derived works are released with the source code. M$ and Apple always
included free softwares in their operating systems, but they often
(always in the case of M$) "forgot" to release the source code of their
modifications. What they're doing is wrong, but the free software
community would be stupid to play their game by restricting usage of free
software to free operating systems.

> Being "elitist" towards outsiders who express even a mild interest in
> the Linux/oss community will repel them before they even get a chance
> to taste the good aspects of Linux.

Are you stating that I'm elitist because I use command line tools? I never
agreed with gui users that believe their tools are easier and better for
ordinary people. These tools are sometimes so complicated and badly
designed that the only reasonable command to use is "quit". As much as
you think they should use a gui because you believe they can't use
anything else, I think ordinary people should use free command line tools
because they can. Text is not elitist, and it's still the easiest and
most powerful intellectual technology.

Have you ever tried to reduce a bunch of images (let's say 10000) with
Photoshop? It's much easier and efficient with the ImageMagick command
line tools. Am I elitist because I use a better (and free) tool which
happens to be text based? I may be part of an elite, but I'm not
requiring anybody to use the same free tools as me. Even M$ uses
ImageMagick in their Office suite, but they charge a fortune to include
this free tool in a closed source product. That's wrong, and that's why I
believe ordinary people should learn to use free tools the "elite" way.

I don't care about Linux. I care about free software. I don't care if the
Linux kernel runs on proprietary hardware, like I don't care if a free
software runs on top of a proprietary OS. I'd much prefer that
everything, from the silicon chip to the gui tools were made entirely
free, but since I must choose, I prefer that free software be allowed to
run on top of non-free software. The free software movement is not
purist, it's trying to make this world better by rational and ethical
means. Hopefully, at some point, most of the computing chain will be
free, including the hardware.
- --
Marc
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