On Wed, 2006-01-18 at 08:20, Erwin Rol wrote: > > And you'll know they are zealots when they make the claim (which > > they officially do...) that you are violating their copyright if > > you distribute an executable that might link to a GPL'd library > > even if you don't include *any* GPL'd code in your distribution. > > Does your application work without the GPL library? No? So your > application _needs_ someone else his copyrighted work to function. How does that relate to who controls which piece? Why should it not be left to the end user whether he is willing to obtain the required licenses to the parts he wants? > So you _need_ the work someone else did to make money? I want to *use* software, not sell it. And I'm more concerned that it be affordable and available than free. The GPL prevents that. > And you _demand_ > that it comes for free and gratis! If you don't like the GPL license of > the library, rewrite it, nothing stops you from doing that. I'm not demanding anything. I'm pointing out that the GPL tries to assert control of components that belong to others and prevents many useful combinations of things from being available at all. > > (An exception exists if you can prove that there are compatible > > non-GPL'd libraries - which is pretty bizarre, since that in > > no way affects what is being copied in your distribution or > > how they might claim ownership of it). > > It all comes down to; i want your work gratis, so i can make money with > it. And if you dislike that i call you a yealot and bitch and complain > that it is unfair. Ummm, no. In many cases it is used intentionally to prevent other people's improved versions from competing against the company's own commercial version (MySQL, ghostscript, etc.). In other cases the effect may be accidental, but it is still anti-competitive and prevents end users from having the choice to pay for the improved versions. > Can someone please point me to the law that says "you are forced to use > GPL software" since apparently some people feel they are forced to use > this unfair GPL license. What's the point of it existing then if people shouldn't use it? -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
