License Proliferation

Russell Nelson nelson at crynwr.com
Mon Sep 5 00:41:31 UTC 2005


Chris Zumbrunn writes:
 > "Open" and "free" would become the Yin and Yang of the open source
 > movement and the clear difference will actually make it easier to
 > develop compatibility and harmony.

Uhhhh, actually I made that point to show that the GPL works as hard
to inhibit and prevent freedom as it does to support and increae
freedom.  It's not "Open" and "free", it's "Freedom as defined by RMS"
and "Freedom as defined by the rest of us; you know, the absence of
restrictions on activity."  It's pretty Orwellian of Richard to say
that we're more free when we live under more restrictions.

I'm not making this up; this has been a long-term and long-lasting
criticism of the GPL.  I'm posing it as a strawman because I know that
there are members of the community who feel this way about the GPL,
and their voices haven't been heard.  I distribute most of my software
under the GPL, so if you watch my feet, you can see how I've voted.

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