guy wrote:
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Well, I'm not over-fussed if my name doen't appear on the front page. Self-promotion, or "the game that sells" as you put it, is not what BSD is about either.
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True, but whether or not, the average person ... like my brother who has no real interest in anything tech, or anything electronic, and certainly not any related social/political implementations ... he's interested in maintaining his well paid social position, with all its' lurks. The only reason he bought a computer(s) was due to badgering from his kids (goaded on by me
).
He believes a company like MS is 'probably' well with in their rights to claim exclusive ownership of technologies. Reason being, after all, they 'invented/created/made' it. The idea that they took public domain concepts and then possessed them is quite shocking to him. He thinks, if that was true hmmmm, then, how can they do that ???, there fore it can't be really true. The BSD licence has the loop hole that allows for that abuse.
My basic point is that a licence like BSDs' works if everyone else works with the same spirit that the licence expresses. But ... people don't, and there is its' problem.
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The ethics of giving stuff away and just letting go are higher than the GPL's copyleft restrictions
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I can't agree there. The BSD is a bit naive in that respect, it assumes people will do the right thing and work with the spirit of the licence. The GPL isn't paying any homage, it is just facing the sad realities. It accepts that human nature, as it consistently displays itself, simply wont do that. So it sees the need to close that hole. Hard love maybe, a restriction, yes, ... but there isn't any other way to effect that really. And it only becomes as such if the person has a view to manipulating that aspect. To work on the perceptions. Companies have shown that open source is a beneficial business input. It allows hw developers to get products out quicker and with greater diversity. And contra wise, it allows OS developers to provide the necessary support, quicker. It's probably the only thing that has kept the kernel independant of any one particular interest group. And they do all constantly try to leverage things to suite their own interests. Just like my old dog, who used to scoff his food down in an instinctive flash. So that no other critter could get to it first. Thinking he might then starve. A degree of doubt existed there somewhere ...
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(Hey, I'm not dissing the GPL - we need both - just defending BSD).
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(grin)
, i know (grin)
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I'm not interested in their criminal record. They're here now, on our team, making us stronger. And that's what matters.
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There've been doing really badly with their 'netware' line too, i hear
Time will tell, just like 4 year olds, never turn your back for to long. Lets not ignore the need for monitoring.
An old foot soldiers saying ...
When being charged by overwhelming odds, and your standing firm, as many have split, and others have fell. And they get closer and closer ... when there really close, turn around quickly and run in the same direction, yelling the same yell ...
(grin), Not really an old saying, as i just made that up
jm
