Re: Lout and public domain

[J.H.M. Dassen (Ray)]

On Sat, Apr 01, 2000 at 14:58:03 +0400, nijbhav wrote:
> Is Lout in public domain a la Linux?

"public domain" has a specific meaning in legal contexts. If a piece of work
is "put in the public domain" it means that the copyright holder gives up
his rights as copyright holder.

Like Linux, lout is free software under the GNU General Public License. It
is not in the public domain. The copyright holder uses his rights under
copyright law to control the terms under which it can be distributed,
modified etc.

The Free Software Foundation's web site has a number of documents that
explain these concepts; check out http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/philosophy.html

HTH,
Ray
-- 
UNFAIR  Term applied to advantages enjoyed by other people which we tried 
to cheat them out of and didn't manage. See also DISHONESTY, SNEAKY, 
UNDERHAND and JUST LUCKY I GUESS.     
    - The Hipcrime Vocab by Chad C. Mulligan