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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux:36432 comp.os.386bsd.questions:2059 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk!sun.rhbnc.ac.uk!simon From: simon@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk (Simon Richardson) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: Summary of Linux vs. 386BSD vs. Commercial Unixes Date: 28 Apr 1993 08:17:54 GMT Organization: Univ. of London, Royal Holloway College. Lines: 96 Distribution: world Message-ID: <1rleji$7to@sun.rhbnc.ac.uk> References: <1rhmmuINNm5r@no-names.nerdc.ufl.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: lt5.cs.rhbnc.ac.uk In article <1993Apr23.073110.14397@klaava.Helsinki.FI>, wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) writes: > > I agree. You have identified the heart of the issue, which is where > the dialog should be focused: > > *** What do you want other people to do with your code? *** > > /// The GNU answer is that it is better to > prevent commercial companies from using it. > (not without sources, blah, blah, blah) > GNU want to see better GNU software. > > /// The BSD answer is that it is better to also allow > commercial companies to use it. > We want to see better free software AND better commercial software. > > So you decide which you believe, and release your code accordingly. > > -Kelly Murray (kem@cis.ufl.edu) kem@cis.ufl.edu (Kelly Murray) writes: > > I agree. You have identified the heart of the issue, which is where > the dialog should be focused: > > *** What do you want other people to do with your code? *** > > /// The GNU answer is that it is better to > prevent commercial companies from using it to > create new and improved proprietary versions, or > incorporating it into existing proprietary software. > GNU wants its work to be used to only create better GNU software. > > /// The BSD answer is that it is better to also allow > proprietary work to be created with the software. > BSD wants to see better free software AND better proprietary software. > > So you decide which answer you believe will create more benefits > for both computer USERS and computer PROGRAMMERS in the world > and release your code accordingly. > > -Kelly Murray (kem@cis.ufl.edu) > Oops. I got onto this thread late, 'cos I've only recently arrived on this newsgroup. I normally spend my time on other, less practical and more "bull oriented" newsgroups, that deal with issues like "how do we think, feel and act". (EG alt.polyamory) ***112: ^ Wierdo error In these other newsgroups, a lot of the threads can be boiled down to "this is the moral way to behave" v "no one can stop me from doing what I want to do" argument. It all gets a bit fundamental, and the old hands switch off. Tired of all this, I go to a group that might show me a little of how to manage a 386BSD setup. And what do I find? Well, come on people. At least head your posts either "I feel I have a right to tell people what to do" or "I have a right to do as I please". That way we will have some chance of figuring out why people are flaming one another. I use 386BSD because it seems to work, and it lets me work on UNIX without lashing out quantities of groats. (I don't *have* quantities of groats. :-( ) I am not sure if, should I develop a useful UNIX application and attempt to market it (quite likely) I would switch to SCO UNIX for the sales. But that depends on how I interpret the licensing agreements. It also depends on how much I want to be involved in "UNIX support". You know, like answering telephones and driving the country in vans? You know, like *boring* stuff? When I release code, I either give it away or sell it. I don't worry about rights. If I want to worry about rights, I sell it to someone and let them worry. If I don't, I don't. To quote Benjy Mouse (a hyperintellegent pandimensional galactic being) "If it comes to a question of taking the money and running, then I for one could do with the exercise." Simon --- "A thousand violins cloy very rapidly without percussion" John Fowles (Quote from Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Douglas Adams)