On 13-Feb-2007, Xavi Drudis Ferran wrote: > Hello. Argh. I've written too much again, i'll try to underline some > sections with "!>" so you can skip the rest:
Unfortunately this makes it look like you're including text from a different message (i.e. quoting another message), and is more confusing. Perhaps judicious use of blank lines would better offset the sections of your message. > !>The license is all right with me, until I get to an strange > !>twist: !> > !> The European Commission may put into force translations and/or binding > new > !> versions of this Licence, so far this is required and reasonable. New > versions of the > !> Licence will be published with a unique version number. The new version > of the > !> Licence becomes binding for You as soon as You become aware of its > publication. > > I've seen similar clauses in some propietary licenses (for demos or > betas at least). The drafter of the copyright license has a strong motive to increase the control held by the copyright holder, at the expense of the recipient of the work. This is just one expression of that. Proprietary licenses claim a great range of things for the copyright holder, and in many cases these are overreaching and of dubious legality. On the other hand, a change in the law is all it takes to make these overreaching clauses binding, at least to the extent that they would be very expensive to defend against. > !> That wouldn't be free software You're right, for the reason you state below. > I'm relieved to find that confirmed in the free software definition at > http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html : > > In order for these freedoms to be real, they must be irrevocable as > long as you do nothing wrong; if the developer of the software has the > power to revoke the license, without your doing anything to give > cause, the software is not free. "You can have these freedoms until I decide otherwise for my own reasons" is not a grant of free license. We should only accept freedoms that are granted in the presumption of good faith; i.e. that if we give no cause to have the freedoms restricted, they will not be restricted. -- \ "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to | `\ another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'" -- | _o__) C.S. Lewis | Ben Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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