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

By this definition, GPLed software is proprietary.

Author:Brett Glass
Posted:8/23/2000; 3:47:28 PM
Topic:Next survey: Are you an open source developer?
Msg #:20012 (In response to 20005)
Prev/Next:20011 / 20013

You quote Stallman's rhetoric:

Proprietary software is software that is not free or semi-free. Its use, redistribution or modification is prohibited, or requires you to ask for permission, or is restricted so much that you effectively can't do it freely.

By this odd definition, GPLed software is "proprietary."

If you are a commercial software developer, you must "ask for permission" to incorporate GPLed code into your own product. The code is "restricted so much that you effectively can't do it freely," because if you use the code in your product and do not secure permission (which the GPL zealots are unlikely to grant), you must GPL your own work. In short, you must give up hope of receiving any reward for your own work and hence give up your livelihood as a programmer!

Again, a more sensible definition is the one which is in common use, not one that is part of Stallman's misleading and deceptive rhetoric.

If hardware or software is proprietary, it means that it uses vendor-specific protocols, file formats, interfaces, and/or APIs -- which are often (though not always) undocumented by the vendor.

--Brett

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