Re: GPLv3 comedy unfolding -- "Eban Moglen is our general now" says astrashe

[Alexander Terekhov]

rjack wrote:
[...]
> Having invented a new copyright license that is not a contract, arch
> legal beagle Professor Moglen now is busyily inventing a new copyright
> license that is not only effective retroactively but assumes control of
> non GPL distribitors' patent rights. Rumors say that in the new license
> will be included terms to retroactively seize the wife, the kids and all
> non-GPl'd family pets.
> 
> When Professor Moglen declares "world domination" and down with the
> bourgeoisie he means it!
> 
> When you're on a roll you're on a roll. Don't mess with the FSF!!!

Eban Moglen is our general now - Slashdot post on msft/novl deal

--------
by astrashe (7452) Alter Relationship on Wednesday December 06, @12:10AM
(#17124840)
(Last Journal: Friday March 26, @04:22PM)

My inclination has always been to think of the freedom guys as a little
strident, and a little too extreme. The things Linus says about
licensing have always made the most sense to me intuitively, and the
other guys have always come across as a little controlling, and a little
crusading.

The one thing I've taken away from the Novell/MS deal, though, is that
this stuff is really complicated, and it's really dangerous. I'll be
honest -- I don't understand all of the implications of the deal, or why
each of the two parties decided to do it. But I feel like something's
going on -- like I'm playing 3 card monte on the street or something.

I don't think that non-specialists (ie., geeks who don't think much
about law) are in a good position to know what's best.

Novell, and the guys that came to Novell when they bought Ximian and
SUSE, have done an incredible amount of good for our community. We are,
to a certain extent, depending on Novell's patents to protect us in this
coming fight. I think they're good guys, doing what they feel they have
to do in order to survive.

But even if this isn't nefarious, it's made us realize that we'd be open
to something similar that was nefarious. Those crazy freedom guys
weren't so crazy after all.

So I think we have to trust the people who understand these treacherous
waters the best -- I think that's Eban Moglen. He says that GPL3 is
necessary to counter this threat, and he says it will be effective, even
if the kernel remains under GPL2. The toolchain will be enough to do
what we need.

I don't want to demonize Novell, because they've given me a lot of great
code, and because there are people there who are real heroes to our
community. I think they're mistaken, and I think Linus is mistaken to
stick with GPL2. It just ain't viral enough to keep us safe.

But instead of attacking people, or getting hysterical, I think the
thing to do is to listen to our best legal minds, and back GPL3. So my
feeling is that Linus's honor is beyond question, he's obviously a lot
smarter than I am, and he might even be smarter than Eban Moglen. But
when it comes to law, I'm going to listen to Moglen.

And I would say that the Ximian guys' honor is beyond question, and that
they're a lot smarter than I am as well. But I'm still going to listen
to Moglen about the law.

Again, my feeling is that we shouldn't let this break down cooperation,
we shouldn't let it affect the civility of our community, and we
shouldn't attribute bad motives to anyone. But we should play it safe,
and innoculate with GPL3.
--------

regards,
alexander.