On Jul 18, 2007, at 2:02 PM, Justin Darnell wrote:
> There are issues with GPL and Open Source too, though.
Did anyone claim that they, or anything else, was perfect?
> Look at mySQL. They've split their community and enterprise versions.
> They will not release free binaries anymore. The community editions,
> unlike Fedora, are actually updated LESS frequently than the
> enterprise version. This means that updates are actually being vetted
> by the Enterprise Customers instead of the non-paying customers. This
> is a bad idea. Its actually worse for paying and non-paying
> customers.
Enterprise customers also get high-level support. In other words,
they are paying for the support to make sure that all the latest and
greatest stuff works. When that stuff is working consistently, it is
migrated to the community edition.
> And look at CUPS. Since all contributors gave rights to their code to
> the corporation originally sponsoring it, Apple was able to swoop in
> and buy up the corporation and the code. The existing GPL code can,
> of course, be forked, but the primary developer is now an Apple
> employee, and they don't have to legally release any new code to the
> public, since they also own all the copyright. Who knows if they will
> or not.
So if Apple hired Paul and I, nobody could enhance Dabo? That's absurd.
> I guess I feel to some extent that these are both bait and switch
> tactics....'free software...'
"Free" refers to freedom. Anything released under the GPL or other
open source licenses is still free for you to develop and use as you
wish.
Let's take your complaint about MySQL. They released several
versions under GPL. They later released other versions under
commercial licenses. Did that change anything that was released under
GPL? Not at all. You still have every right to use and modify that
code that you always did.
Did you somehow interpret the word "freedom" as "guaranteed
immediate updates and support for all eternity"?
-- Ed Leafe
-- http://leafe.com
-- http://dabodev.com
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