shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields) (09/10/90)
rlin@cs.ubc.ca (Robert Lin) writes: >I'd willingly and happily pay which ever commercial company good money, if >I can have the same level of openness that I'd get for free with GNU. >If whenever I report a bug, and they know its there, but can't fix it, >I'd like to receive a copy of the source code so I can fix it myself. >I'd even be willing to protect their commercial interest by signing a >non-disclosure, and after submitting my fixes, destory my copy. It's time to write into law that software warranties give the user some form of support, as for example the GNU license. You always can have the source code. It may not be cheap to fix a problem, but it's almost always cheaper than redoing something from scratch. It really irritates me when, time after time, upon calling a company and reporting a problem I have with their software, going over the usual answer of "oh yes, we know about that, but why don't you grit your teeth and wait -- we'll probably generate a fix by the time hell freezes over," etc, and ask if there is any way I can negotiate a source licence, they say, flatly, "no". In case you were wondering, it's happened to me more than once. Of course I have no legal recourse because the software contains the usual non-warranty. It's time to make laws to invalidate those non-warranties. Suggestions as to how such a law should be worded? Paul Shields
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (09/10/90)
In article <14926@yunexus.YorkU.CA> shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields) writes: | It's time to make laws to invalidate those non-warranties. | Suggestions as to how such a law should be worded? No law needed. The free market system works just fine. There are some companies which offer source license. The fact that they don't sominate the market indicates that many people don't want to maintain their own software. The existance of companies like Cygnus which maintain GNU software indicates that people are willing to PAY MONEY not to maintain software even if they can. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) VMS is a text-only adventure game. If you win you can use unix.
russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) (09/11/90)
In article <14926@yunexus.YorkU.CA> shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields) writes: > >It really irritates me when, time after time, upon calling a company >and reporting a problem I have with their software, going over the >usual answer of "oh yes, we know about that, but why don't you grit >your teeth and wait -- we'll probably generate a fix by the time hell >freezes over," etc, and ask if there is any way I can negotiate a >source licence, they say, flatly, "no". In case you were wondering, >it's happened to me more than once. Of course I have no legal >recourse because the software contains the usual non-warranty. > >It's time to make laws to invalidate those non-warranties. >Suggestions as to how such a law should be worded? No individual shall distribute a piece of software, without devoting himself to a lifelong commitment to fix any problem with that software, immediately and without additional compensation. Alternatively, the individual is required to distribute, free of additional charge, all information and source materials used to create the piece of software. (obviously, I feel this is a very bad idea)
wilkes@mips.COM (John Wilkes) (09/11/90)
In article <14926@yunexus.YorkU.CA> shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields) writes: > >It's time to write into law that software warranties give the user >some form of support, as for example the GNU license. Yeah, right. Let's get the guvvinment involved. Hoo boy, we can create a giant bureaucracy and have a billion dollar budget. Hey, this should be cabinet level, don't you think? Yeah, that's the ticket: Secratary of Software. -wilkes <wilkes@mips.com>