Re: LGPL vs. GPL

[JohnF]

Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com> wrote:
> JohnF wrote:
>> But if I couldn't care less what you think,
>> then what right do you have to tell me what
>> to do with my own property?
> 
> The only thing that makes it "your property" is the
> consensus of society that it benefits by putting its
> resources behind granting you a limited monopoly for
> a limited time.

Isn't that just another reason for software authors
to prefer not releasing the source code to their
programs?  There's no law forcing authors to publish
source code.  And the absence of any such law is
"the concensus of society" too.  If you're so 
committed to society's consensus, maybe you should
accept it more graciously.

> I'm frankly sick and tired of people
> who want to do one piece of work one time and then
> sit back and expect the rest of us to spend our time,
> effort, and money making sure that royalties flow
> their way for the rest of their lives.

Personally, I don't expect you (or anybody) to do
anything, and I couldn't care less what you do.
I make a living doing contract programming.  The
"public" software I write in spare time is gpl'ed
to begin with, and I've never made a penny from
any of it.

But I've got no problem with people making
royalties from their work, if that's what they
choose to do with it.  And if they choose not
to release the source, well, that's their
right, too.  I'm very happy that open source
software exists, but that's the authors'
choice.
-- 
John Forkosh  ( mailto:  j@f.com  where j=john and f=forkosh )