Plan 9 license

[Martin Konold]

On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Richard Stallman wrote:

> 	    You should also have the freedom to make modifications and use them
> 	    privately in your own work or play, without even mentioning that
> 	    they exist.
> 
>     The use of "should" rather than "must" causes it to appear that this is
>     optional, but strongly encouraged.  This freedom would fall under 
> 
> I meant this to be a requirement.  I guess I should clarify the wording.

I think that this imposes a big thread on free software because it give
large multinational cooperations an uncompetetive advantage compared to
small businesses.

E.g. big multinational companies can make substantial changes and
improvements to GPL'd software, distribute these to thousands of
workplaces whithout the requirement to give these changes back to the
original authors.

In contrast small companies cooperating with each other would in practise
always be forced to make their modifications available. (less choice means
less business opportunities)

In other words mergers and aqusitions should not change the effective
conditions for using and modification of free software.

Yours,
-- martin