written offer valid for any third party Re: OSI enforcement?

[Roger Fujii]

Rick Moen wrote:

> Baloney.  GPLv2 clause 3b very plainly specifies a medium customarily
> used for software interchange.  In my universe, FTP qualifies as -the- 
> prime example, par excellence, of a medium customarily used for software
> interchange.

It is arguable whether or not "transmission medium" is the same as "medium"
in this case.  I don't think putting source up on a ftp site with a 300bps
link to the internet for a 100mb package would pass 2b). FSF has from the
beginning argued that 2b) was meant for physical media, so it's going a
little far saying that's a mispresentation, as they have always represented
it as such.  Unfortuantely, FSF has a vested interest not to re-interpret
words in current context, so you have this particular problem.

> My point?  That merely referring people to external FAQs for information
> can be every bit as problematic as -- well -- taking excerpts from
> public mailing list postings and assuming those are necessarily good
> answers to frequently asked questions.

Agreed.  Though one might take a lesson from wikiland and use external
links as footnotes, so people at least know how the answer was derived.  Since
the answers to many questions depends on how one interprets what
certain words mean ("medium" in the above case), I would presume that
there would be several questions with multiple answers.

-r