Re: GNU licenses

[David Kastrup]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

>    Boy oh boy we love to pick on semantics! I should have said the
>    "evil motive" _behind_ the GPL.
>
> There is no evil motive behind the GNU GPL.  It keeps users like you,
> me and John free to run, use, modify and distribute programs.  It
> keeps users free to do what they have a right to do.

Well, unfortunately, they _don't_ have a right to do this, or we would
not need the GPL in the first place.

In a similar vein, there was a time when electronic appliances were
required to include schematics in some countries.  Take any electronic
device from, say, somewhere between 1920 to 1980, and open it, and
you'll find a schematic somewhere inside, or alternatively, in the
instruction leaflet accompanying it.

That meant that you could let the device get fixed by a technician of
your choice if it broke, or could tinker with it if you wanted to.
Even if the company subsequently went broke or trashed its old
documentation.

Binaries accompanied by source code are pretty much the equivalent of
appliances accompanied by schematics.  They put the key to servicing
into the user's hand.  Whether or not he uses it himself or employs
somebody else is beside the point: he has the _power_ to do so.  You
don't need to throw away all you have got if you find that just one
detail is wrong for your purposes.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum