nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) (10/18/89)
rms is probably going to flame me for discussing other-than-copyleft
copyright notices on his lists, but sometimes ya gotta take some heat.
In article <47006@bbn.COM> cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes:
But the point of the comment is that there is no apparent symmetry:
we've all heard all the opinions on the OTHER side bunches, too.
Telling one side of a discussion that "I've already heard what you
have to say, so you can stop saying it even as I keep saying my bit
over and over" is a bit odd, no?
Sigh. Yes, you're right, here, Bernie.
I missed part of the reasoning there: the 'mixer' didn't take your code
out of the public domain. It is still there and still freely
available. Now, the *modified* version of your code [after the mixing]
may or may not be available, but why do you care: *your* code is still
out there. ...
No, *my* code is *not* out there. The fact remains that some or all
of my code is being distributed without source. In addition to which,
commercial users of public domain code have no incentive to distribute
the original public domain code. If their modifications are few, they
have a powerful incentive not to distribute it.
Time to repost my "alternative copyright":
"I wrote this software, and you must acknowledge that. You can do
anything you want with it, but if you distribute derivations, you must
ensure that everyone knows how to get a copy of the same thing you
got."
This copyright deals with some people's objection to "prior restraint". That
is, it does not require people to give up rights to their software. This
copyright deals with my objection to public domain software. That is, it does
not allow people to hoard *my* code, only hoard theirs. Obviously, this
copyright doesn't address rms's objection to software hoarding.
Like rms, I think that software hoarding is bad. Unlike rms, I am willing
to participate in this software hoarding, but only to a limited extent.
--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu])
Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be granted thee.
A recession now appears more than 2 years away -- John D. Mathon, 4 Oct 1989.