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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.mathworks.com!arclight.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!nntp.portal.ca!cynic.portal.ca!not-for-mail From: cjs@cynic.portal.ca (Curt Sampson) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy Subject: Re: Linux vs whatever Date: 27 Jan 1997 10:14:39 -0800 Organization: Internet Portal Services, Inc. Lines: 28 Message-ID: <5ciraf$gs@cynic.portal.ca> References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <m23evrulla.fsf@desk.crynwr.com> <32EA25AB.41C67EA6@freebsd.org> <5qC7y0gTzDLB091yn@ibm.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: cynic.portal.ca Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:154458 comp.os.linux.networking:66288 comp.os.linux.setup:94073 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:5749 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2045 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy:51083 comp.os.os2.advocacy:263708 In article <5qC7y0gTzDLB091yn@ibm.net>, Mouth of the South <mouth@ibm.net> wrote: >Stallman had the right idea with the GPL, prohibiting restrictions on the >distribution of source code for derivative works.... >Since no one can hide any Linux source code, Linux never loses any energy. This is not at all true. Some people simply will not do work on GPL'd code because, though they might be happy to give away some of their work, they don't want to give away all of it. Others will re-write code that has already been written just so that there's a non-GPL version available, thus wasting the time and energy of the entire `free' software community. But the worst area affected is standards. Here's an example: it isn't possible for someone who had written a PC archiving program (such as PKZIP or ARJ) to plug in the Gnu code to do gzip compression, unless they're willing to give away all their other work. Had it been possible, there's a better chance that that gzip might have become a multi-platform standard. Instead, the FSF isolated gzip from becoming a real standard nearly as effectively as if they'd patented it. cjs -- Curt Sampson cjs@portal.ca Info at http://www.portal.ca/ Internet Portal Services, Inc. Vancouver, BC (604) 257-9400 De gustibus, aut bene aut nihil.