Re: [NTLK] Fix2010 code release

From: Jon Glass <jonglass_at_usa.net>
Date: Mon Dec 29 2008 - 07:03:50 EST

On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 11:52 AM, Tony Kan <tonykan@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> Please bear with me but what does "...would not allow re-closing derivatives"
> mean? Thanks in advance

BSD license is what Darwin/OSX uses. Apple has added to it, and those
additions are closed-source. the GPL wouldn't allow that. This means
that someone can take the source, change the source, and commercialize
it, closing the source. Proponents of BSD say that's a good thing.
Proponents of GPL say that's a bad thing. Avi proposed a BSD license,
so I presume he thinks that's a good thing. Since he wrote the source
originally, I presume he is not opposed to somebody closing
derivatives of his work. I am like him. I wouldn't complain if
somebody could take my source and make something commercial out of it.
I would be flattered. ;-) but some people are not happy with that
scenario. This is why the GPL. I think that, for this software,
probably the GPL is the safest, long-term. But since it's such minor
software, with only one purpose, I hardly consider it worth worrying
about. ;-)

As to SourceForge, again, with such a one-trick pony, I hardly doubt
that it's worth all the effort of putting it up on SourceForge. I
suspect that the code is clean enough, and worth putting out there.
Having the source is for those who know, so they can verify the safety
of the code. That's the main purpose. Since I couldn't read it, the
source is useless for me, but I would love for people like Simon,
Frank, Eckhart, and others to be able to go over the code to verify
it. For that, UNNA is good enough, and since it's community, any
necessary changes could be quickly propagated to everybody simply by
posting here what changes were necessary, and posting the link. Again,
too much worrying is overkill for this software--but then again,
that's just me. :-D

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass@usa.net>
"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus
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Received on Mon Dec 29 07:03:52 2008

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