Wired Article on the GPL

[Justin Wells]

On Thu, Mar 30, 2000 at 04:39:10PM -0500, John Cowan wrote:

> Remember that we are talking about the GPL here, not some random proprietary
> license.  The GPL grants you permissions to take certain actions provided you
> meet certain conditions.  The actions are copying, distributing, and
> making derivative works.  You neither accept nor reject the GPL; it grants
> you permissions whether you want them or not.
> 
> If the copyright owner revokes the permissions, you are probably out of luck.

If this is true, it's awful. That means that I can release some software
for "free" under the GPL, wait until everyone is using it, and then 
suddenly say "Hey guys, guess what? I feel like getting rich--please 
all send me $5000 or stop using my software. I revoke the GPL." 

That CAN'T be right. If it is right, we need a quick revision to the
GPL to fix this problem.

Justin