Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: It's even worse than it appears

Author:arlen.p.walker@jci.com
Posted:8/31/2000; 8:29:22 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 8/28/2000
Msg #:20573 (In response to 20533)
Prev/Next:20572 / 20574

Dave, about the only thing you in particular said that I was responding to was "poison pill." Beyond that, I was simply responding to the generic GPL-bashing that has been occurring here.

I don't mind you saying you see the GPL as anti-programmer-friendship. I hope you don't mind my saying I disagree with you. Speaking only for myself, I can be friends with other programmers without even thinking about how they license their code.

I suspect I know what you were driving at with your comment, but I know how you dislike someone reforming your words and then claiming you said the reformulation, so I'll try to avoid doing that.

There is a lot of noise around the GPL, and little of it friendly. The basis of the GPL seems to me to be an attempt to codify a "gift culture." In other words, I'll give you my code to help you get something useful done, but only on the condition that you also give what you build on my code to myself or others, to help me (and them) get even more useful things done.

Friends share willingly. But every advice I've ever seen on forming businesses says that friends will do better in business if the relationship is codified in some sort of partnership document. The codification is not there to inhibit the friendship, and isn't generally seen as anti-friendship; some will even say it preserves the friendship and so is pro-friendship.

But I can see the philosophical point that a gift given with strings can be seen as no longer being a gift. I'm not sure I agree with it, but I quite cheerfully admit it's a way of looking at it.

I guess my point is we should waste less time arguing about the inherent good or evil in the GPL and more time writing. Whether one chooses to GPL or not is irrelevant. Everything comes with a price. There are, I'm sure, rare individuals who give with no expectations. I've met a couple (none were programmers, BTW).

Most of us have expectations when giving a gift. Sometimes the expectation is that we ourselves will feel better by giving it. Sometimes it's the hope for a smile, or some gratitude. Sometimes it's because we're making up for something in our past. In that respect, all gifts have strings, of one sort or another. Acceptance of the gift depends upon our willingness to accept those strings. You will accept strings I won't, and vice versa. Different isn't necessarily better or worse; often it's just different.

In this particular religious war, I'm an agnostic, which probably means I'm a target for both sides.

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