*BSD News Article 87895


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From: imdave@synet.net (Dave Bodenstab)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Linux vs whatever
Date: 30 Jan 1997 21:02:31 GMT
Organization: Dave Bodenstab's home machine
Lines: 27
Message-ID: <5cr297$ied@garuda.synet.net>
References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <5clcjd$l34@cynic.portal.ca> <5cmiv4$iuf@garuda.synet.net> <5cmvnk$kkh@cynic.portal.ca>
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In article <5cmvnk$kkh@cynic.portal.ca>,
Curt Sampson <cjs@cynic.portal.ca> wrote:
>In article <5cmiv4$iuf@garuda.synet.net>,
>Dave Bodenstab <imdave@synet.net> wrote:
>
>>Then why did you add the 500 lines of GPL'ed code?
>
>In fact I didn't, because of the licence. I spent time re-writing
>that code that I would have otherwise spent on writing software to
>the community. So, due to the GPL, the community lost 500 lines of
>free software.
>
You made a decision based on your needs -- no problem.  I'm afraid
I don't follow the reasoning in your last sentence; the 500 lines
of GPL'ed code that you had considered using are still there, and
are still available to the cummunity.  In what sense are they ``lost''?
If you were planning to release the product to the "community" anyway
(if not, then how would the "community" lose anything) then the GPL
shouldn't have been a problem in the first place.  If you're suggesting
that the time you spent on your proprietary product took time away from
an altogether different ``free'' product... well, that's life.  I'm sure
that GM could save time by copying Ford's engines, but they can't --
and I'm puzzled when software folks appear to think that the situation
is somehow different in our industry.

Dave Bodenstab