Re: [SLUG] Linus interview

From: steve szmidt (steve@szmidt.org)
Date: Fri Mar 10 2006 - 22:33:41 EST


On Friday 10 March 2006 20:05, Sick Twist wrote:
> There are holes in his argument. To continue the mad scientist analogy,
> what good would the scientist's altered code be if the alterations depended
> on the presence of a secret hardware key in order to run? Outside of the
> mechanical shark, that code would be pretty useless to the user. Such
> circumstances are what the FSF aims to avoid and the revisions that will be
> in GPL 3 are designed to protect the user's freedom in such a case (as well
> as others).

Well you are free to not use such s/w too. Support it and so on. You missed
his note on that. Let industry forces dictate what "sells" not software
regulations. Sounds like you should use V3 when you release s/w.

> It also bothers me a bit that although Linus has problems with the first
> draft of GPL 3, he is apathetic towards the work that remains in crafting
> it. While the kernel may be uneffected by the next version of GPL, I'm
> pretty sure that some modules are licensed "GPL 2 or later" and thus could
> be affected by GPL 3. Furthermore, there are most likely many tools Linus
> depends on that will be licensed under GPL 3 so he will have to deal with
> the new changes one way or another. Now is the best time to raise
> criticisms before GPL 3 is finalized.

I think he made his point quite clear, he's happy with what he has, and
further he's happy to live with his choice.

Lot's of people will use V3 regardless of what Linus likes. Lots of people
will blindly follow him and lots others plain like 2.

I think it's good that some people look out for some things. It gives us more
options to choose from. The thing is that none of us are in a real position
to faulter him for feeling the way he does. It's part of freedom.

-- 

Steve Szmidt

"For evil to triumph all that is needed is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.



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