Licenses are NOT contracts. They do not trump copyright law. At least, the GPL is notI don't agree with many of your points, but I don't think we need to argue them. I would like to point out that licenses are contracts and contract law may trump copyright law. Some people do get tied in knots over real and
a contract (perhaps some other license is defined as a contract, but the GPL is not.)
I have heard attorneys explain this quite precisely; it is an unfortunate myth that should
not be promulgated that a license is a contract.
imagined licensing issues. Perhaps a Common Lisp Standard Library could be placed in the public domain? Some programmers may be unwilling to contribute to a non-GPLed code base, but they should be willing to use it. Perhaps the IETF approach would work with a library specification and reference implementation. Anyone who didn't want to use the reference implementation would be free to roll their own. > > POINT #3: HUMILITY > > It takes a certain degree of pragmatic humility for a developer to admit > to himself that End Users simply don't care what programming language is > used to write the program. End users are really only concerned with > three things: (1) the program works correctly, (2) the program saves > time for the user, and (3) the program is easy to install and use. There > is also (4); the program gets bonus points if it looks cool. > > ... > You're creating a stereotype user and overgeneralizing from that. Entertainment value can be substituted for item (2), for instance. However, I think your essential point is correct. Whatever their individual wants and needs, users make a conscious or unconscious cost/benefit analysis and mostly don't care what's under the hood. Developers have to keep that in mind. Regards, Steve
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---- Robert L. Read, PhD read &T robertlread.net Consider visiting Progressive Engineering: http://robertlread.net/pe In Austin: 912-8593 "Think globally, Act locally." -- RBF |
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