Free World Licence.

[Ross N. Williams]

At 8:27 PM -0700 18/10/99, Arandir wrote:
>On Mon, 18 Oct 1999, Ross N. Williams wrote:
>
>> You can distribute FWL software with a non-free OS. You just
>> can't compile executables or run it on a non-free OS.
>
>One of the main premises of Free Software according to the FSF is that it's
>okay to share software with your friend. However, with this license, if I share
>it with my friend, there is a good probability that he will be sued. What kind
>of friend would I be then?
>
>Friend: "Hey, that's cool software! Can I have a copy?"
>Me: "Sorry, It won't run on your system."
>Friend: "Oh, it another one of those Linux programs."
>Me: "No, it's just illegal for you to use it."
>Friend: "Why?"
>Me: "Cause it's got this Free Software license on it that says..."
>Friend: "Explain to me again what Free means again. I'm confused."

Me: It means that the software is free and that you can get the source
    code and modify it and pass on changes. It's great. So great in fact,
    that we believe that this freedom is so important that we don't allow
    free software to be used on non-free systems. We don't want to provide
    an incentive for people to use/buy non-free operating systems. If you
    like the program so much, why don't you buy a copy from Rocksoft in
    the same way you bought all your other software? That's the commercial
    way of doing things and that's what you chose when you bought a
    commercial OS. But if you want to get everything for free, get GNU/Linux.

Ross.

Dr Ross N. Williams (ross at rocksoft.com), +61 8 8232-6262 (fax-6264).
Director, Rocksoft Pty Ltd, Adelaide, Australia: http://www.rocksoft.com/ 
Protect your files with Veracity data integrity: http://www.veracity.com/