I believe that all the arguments about GPLed software (starting from
ipchains and then wandered elsewhere) overlooked one important point.
This point is what originally motivated RMS in his GNU crusade.
His original point is that users must have the power to modify software
and tailor it to their specific needs. This point was driven into home
when RMS could not modify the driver for a new printer, so that it met his
special needs, and the printer's manufacturer won't modify the driver in
his behalf, either.
Everything else followed from this. As long as people, who got your
software, can modify it, the spirit of GPL is preserved.
The example of computer-VCR-appliance is blatant violation of the GPL
spirit. For one thing, it does not provide for Israeli customers to
modify the software to support Hebrew, PAL and the like (assuming that the
hardware can be programmed to accept either NTSC or PAL).
On Sat, 30 Dec 2000, Nadav Har'El wrote:
> I'm not talking about applying the GPL to the hardware itself, or about
> hardware companies making software (a la Sun's Java) - I was talking
> about how the GPL applies to software that comes prepackaged with some
> hardware.
>
> I think that the computer-VCR-appliance makers I described above should be
> allowed to put GPLsoftware on their machines and sell them. And here is
> my rationale:
--- Omer
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