Agree [LWN.net]

Agree

Posted Sep 19, 2002 6:47 UTC (Thu) by leonbrooks (guest, #1494)
Parent article: Releasing old software into public domain.

The FSF has chosen to release their software under a license which does not merely ask for fair play, but requires it. Making software available as free-for-all would be diluting their message. Apart from that, authors having contributed to GNU software have received written assurances that their contributions may not be used in proprietary products. Even if the FSF was willing to make such a contraproductive move, it would probably not be allowed to do so for legal reasons.

Agree, and agree. I'd be annoyed if I copylefted something significant, handed it over to the FSF, and later they copycentred it.

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Agree

Posted Sep 19, 2002 11:21 UTC (Thu) by Peter (guest, #1127) [Link]

I'd be annoyed if I copylefted something significant, handed it over to the FSF, and later they copycentred it.

Well, that's the choice you made and the risk you took. It's like Saddam Hussein using your GPL software to run the alarm systems at his microbe factories. You previously decided that the benefits of releasing under the GPL outweigh the drawbacks of contributing to such activities. So with signing away your copyrights: the benefits of helping out an official GNU project are perceived to outweigh the risk of disagreeing with the FSF about how best to husband the copyright.

Personally I would not sign away the copyright to anything I feel as strongly about as you seem to. Problem solved. (Actually I write very little software that I could be said to care that much about, so the point is largely moot.)

By the way, should we take your statement to mean that you are in favor of copyright terms longer than 15 years for computer code? I would find that position rather hard to defend, given the pace of the industry.

Re: Agree

Posted Sep 19, 2002 19:44 UTC (Thu) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link]

Peter's post may be based on a misunderstanding. When you assign your work to the FSF, you do so by means of a contract, one that binds the FSF as well as you. The contract essentially states that the work will remain free software, and imposes other requirements on the FSF as well.

The standard contract language, though, would permit the FSF to switch to a "copycenter" license, if my reading is correct, switch from GPL to LGPL or vice versa, though I'm told that they've negotiated different language in some cases.