On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 12:35 PM, Prajwal Tuladhar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Is MySQL not an open source database after acquisition by Sun??? > > http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/05/14/mysql-free-software-but-not-open-source/
The above article is very misleading and confusing. GNU GPL - which is the Free Software license is much superior than other Open Source licences in that GPL makes sure that the software remains free for ever and no one can curtail the freedom of even its derivatives. But, on the other hand, Open Source initiative was started to please proprietary software makers. A software licensed under some open source licence can be taken by a company, modified and the modified version can become proprietary product of that company. This can never happen with GPL. The BSD license is one example of a Open Source license. The author of the above article doesn't seem to understand what "Free Software" means and what GPL is. Nowadays, these terms are very loosely used. No problem as long as they are used to promote Free/Open Source Software. But, when someone tried to compare between these two, he/she better be aware of the fact. For example, the Linux kernel is licensed under the GNU GPL. In my opinion, no problem if we call Linux as open source as long as our aim is to promote it - it is easier for lay people (non technical) to understand the term open source compare to Free software. But, as technical people, if we want to use the correct terminology, then we should use the term "Free Software" to refer to Linux. regards, Prasanna David --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ FOSS Nepal mailing list: [email protected] http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Community website: http://www.fossnepal.org/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
