Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Concern
Author: Brett Glass Posted: 8/25/2000; 4:45:39 PM Topic: A softer GPL? Msg #: 20278 (In response to 20243) Prev/Next: 20277 / 20279
My messages reflect not "obsession" but very serious concern.However, the way you go on and on and on about the GPL and rms (and practically nothing else) makes me wonder about what your real concerns are. If it were ethics, then I would expect that you would be concerned about a myriad of other ethical issues besides the GPL.
I am! But they're not what's under discussion here.
As others have noted, you desire to profit from other people's creativity.
Not so. I desire to profit only from my own creativity. However, the GPL prevents people from creating new value by building on existing technology, even though that technology has been given away to the world and has no market value. When I create a better version of a product which is available to everyone at no cost, every penny I can make is the result of my own additions and improvements. Therefore, I am profiting only from my own creativity, not that of previous authors.
The GPL is the equivalent of saying that an engineer can't use existing scientific knowledge to build a better car, or mouse trap, or what have you, but must rediscover all of the laws of physics over again. If he does not, he is stripped of all the money he makes from his work. This is unfair and unethical, and it certainly would hinder progress.
--Brett Glass
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