From: "Les Mikesell" <lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx>
On Wed, 2006-06-14 at 13:01 -0400, Sean wrote:
> Unless you want/need to combine it with something already under a
> different license. Then it is not only not free, it can't be shared
> at all, even with people who already have the other component.
Which is really the main point of the license. It _shouldn't_ be free
to people who don't want to play along and give back to the process.
And how does that relate to this situation? Assume you have a
proprietary library that communicates with some particular
device. Perhaps patented technology is involved so there is no
way to legally duplicate the functionality. You do some work
to make a useful GPL program use that library to work with your
device. You'd like to share that work with others who also
have the same device and library. The GPL restricts you from
legally doing so.
Heh, how many people on this list are using illegal software so that
they can view their DVDs on Linux in the United States? In theory they
are violating the GPL as well as US laws. But they don't care, unless
I decide I want to develop a software widget that runs on Linux, does
not come with source code, and costs money.
Again, GPL needs to get cleaned up to face some realities. So does the
US Patent and Copyright system. Both are seriously broken.
{^_^} Joanne
