On Tuesday 05 Jan 2010, J. Holden wrote: [snip...] > ...but this is important to help protect our software. > > Cheers > John
John, in referring to "our" software, I'm afraid that you're missing the point of the GPL. Once the software has been released under the GPL it isn't 'ours' or anyone else's anymore; it is owned by no one. This is the meaning of 'Freedom' in the context of the GPL. Releasing software under the GPL is analogous to granting freedom to a human slave and the protections provided by the GPL are solely to guarantee the future freedom of the freed slave; it's purpose is to ensure that no one, including the person who set them free, can re-enslave them. As such, the only protection the GPL offers to the originators of software is that their intention that the software be free is enforced. The GPL offers no other protection to the originator, for having set the slave free, they have no further say over what the freed slave may or may not do; the originator has no subsequent control over the slave that needs to be protected. This is the main difference between true open source licences, like the GPL, and various other public domain or free to use licences where the originator is just letting other people use their slave rather than granting the slave their freedom. LeeE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
