Plan 9 license

[David Johnson]

On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Richard Stallman wrote:
> You're right that the definition of free software, like the definition
> of open source, need to be interpreted by people who are committed to
> the goals with which those definitions were written. 

But people other than those sharing your goals need to be able to
interpret Free Software and Open Source as well. Limiting their
proper interpretations to only the true believer is a very strange
stance.

There are many goals in the world of software. Some people want to
change the world. Some just want to change a small part of it. Some
want to share their own personal creations without caring what
others do. Some don't like software patents but have no problems with
software copyrights. And so on.

To say that one person's interpretation of Open Source and Free
Software is wrong merely because they don't believe in the right things
is absurd. But this is what your statement is implying.

> ... Neither one is
> designed to be fiendproof when interpreted by people that don't share
> the goal.

"Fiend" is a pretty strong word. Certainly there are some fiendish
types out there. But I would hazard a guess that most who submit
licenses or software that don't meet the definitions are far from being
fiends.

-- 
David Johnson
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