The FSF is a special case

Posted Feb 1, 2010 2:23 UTC (Mon) by dlang (guest, #313)
In reply to: The FSF is a special case by emk
Parent article: Canonical copyright assignment policy 'same as others' (ITWire)

1. RMS isn't going to head the FSF forever (simple age will see to that)

2. it all depends on your definition of 'similar in spirit', some people feel that they have already violated that trust with the GPLv3

The FSF is a special case

Posted Feb 1, 2010 3:00 UTC (Mon) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (1 responses)

FWIW, the FSF commits itself to something rather stronger than "similar in spirit." They say exactly which rights will remain with the code. One might still not want to sign code over to the FSF, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a very different deal than signing it over to a corporation which intends to release proprietary versions.

The FSF is a special case

Posted Feb 1, 2010 17:30 UTC (Mon) by dlang (guest, #313) [Link]

if they promised to always keep the codebase under the license it was originally under, but then wanted the ability to add additional licenses to that I think it would be much better than the current situation

Understanding RMS

Posted Feb 1, 2010 7:05 UTC (Mon) by emk (subscriber, #1128) [Link]

When dealing with RMS, it helps to understand his goals:

1) He wants to provide as many users as possible with the rights to
examine, modify and redistribute software.

2) He has zero interest in helping developers of proprietary software,
Tivoized embedded systems, or DRM. Under certain very limited
circumstances he will occasionally choose a non-copyleft license, but only
when it has a direct and clear advantage for (1).

The GPLv3 may not be what Linus wanted, but it is absolutely consistent
with what RMS wants: Allowing users to modify the software they use. In
the future, for example, you can expect RMS to become increasingly
bothered by Apple-style "App Stores" and by hosted web applications.

You may disagree with RMS (I often have in the past), but his actions are
not terribly hard to predict.