On Fri, 2005-02-11 at 14:44 -0700, Craig J. Lindstrom wrote: > Having said that, I have written software that is public domain (what open > source was called before the current open source craze), and software that > is patented. I chose.
Open Source software has never been public domain. This is an important point for all of us to remember because eventually our GPL code (or whatever OSL we choose) will have its copyright expire and it will become public domain and free for MS or anyone to use. Therefore copyrights are used to enforce Open Source licenses while the copyrights last. Having said that I don't think any open source developer would really have a problem with the original short term of the copyrights as the founding fathers created it (with no extensions possible). Michael -- -------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
