Sandip Bhattacharya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I have a feeling that Kenneth is just asking for some facts behind your > theory of how BSD code is being abused by M$ and its ilk. Too many > people throw the "BSD networking stack" as an example whenever this > discussion comes up, but are at a loss when asked for examples beyond that.
Maybe they're stunned by the view that it's not such a big deal. Grabbing the BSD stack and using it to make windows work with the internet just before the web started in the early 90s is a pretty big deal. Denying that this helped MS jump in and dominate as PCs came in everywhere is illogical. MS was big in 1992 or thereabouts, but not as dominant as it is now. Sure, MS could have written their own stack, but why bother when BSD code can quite legitimately be used and save some time and effort? > When you were asked about Apache and Mozilla projects, instead of > admitting exceptions to this theory, You are insinuating a falsehood. I said there was a risk of usurption. "Risk" does not mean "certainty". The word "risk" implies exceptions will be there. If you drive recklessly, there is a risk you will crash. There is not a certainty you will crash. On top of that, I explained the factors behind why apache wasn't hijacked in thorough detail. > you turned to "luck" as an abstract > non-verifiable factor. How about some concrete examples of the > "failure" of BSD licenses? I don't know what you mean by luck as being non-verifiable. Luck is verifiable in hindsight in many cases, otherwise historians wouldn't be able to write books. This is because luck is pretty much random factors operating in favour of an outcome. But, since it is pretty much random, you can't know the likelihood of a favourable event too much in *advance* of the event. That's why it's called "luck", and not "foreknowledge". BSD licencing relies on partially on luck to avoid usurping. PJ _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- [email protected] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
