On 02/05/11 15:34, rdbr...@pacific.net.au wrote:
Diomidis D. Spinellis's latest IEEE Software column "Choosing and Using
Open Source Components" is up at his blog
http://www.spinellis.gr/blog/20110501
and may interest.
Thanks for pointing this out Rodney. Hope we see you at the upcoming
discussion group!
It's a well written article, but does seem to be a little
freedom-agnostic. I also worry about Spinellis' slightly twisted
interpretation of the GPL:
Others (licenses), like the GNU licenses, play well with other
software licensed as open source but make life difficult for
proprietary offerings. This is especially true if you want to
distribute your work to others as a shrink-wrapped package, such as
Microsoft Office, or as an embedded software product, like a set-top
box. In such cases the only GNU-licensed components you can easily
use are unmodified dynamically linked libraries licensed under the
so-called GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). You get
considerable more leeway with GNU-licensed software if you don’t
distribute a product but instead offer a service (like Google) or
simply use your system privately within your organization.
The GNU GPL says that you can't incorporate GPL licensed code into
proprietary programs. That's a benefit, not a problem, since the users
of the program get the same freedoms that you do.
Spinellis also suggests that offering a proprietary software service
based on free software is a good way to work around the GPL. Encouraging
software developers to forgo their ethical obligations to people who use
their software isn't in the spirit of free software.
Cheers,
Ben
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