Microsoft launches open source foundation (Linux-Watch) [LWN.net]

Microsoft launches open source foundation (Linux-Watch)

Posted Sep 11, 2009 20:18 UTC (Fri) by Trelane (guest, #56877)
In reply to: Microsoft launches open source foundation (Linux-Watch) by martinfick
Parent article: Microsoft launches open source foundation (Linux-Watch)

It's not necessarily true in Open Source. Although you can't remove the source code once it's out there, you can fork it and take it back to proprietary. Patents are also a huge question. Free Software, on the other hand, ensures that software stays Free.

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Microsoft launches open source foundation (Linux-Watch)

Posted Sep 11, 2009 20:27 UTC (Fri) by martinfick (subscriber, #4455) [Link] (1 responses)

Sorry, that is a miss conception (open source vs free), public domain and BSD style software is still considered free software, even by RMS.

My point is still valid though, you cannot extinguish open source. Using the code from a open-source/free project in a proprietary product cannot extinguish the piece that is open-source/free. You can extinguish the proprietary fork all you want, but who in the open source/free software world cares?

Microsoft launches open source foundation (Linux-Watch)

Posted Sep 11, 2009 20:53 UTC (Fri) by Trelane (guest, #56877) [Link]

Hmm. You seem to be right.
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses