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From the source...
Gordon Matzigkeit , 2000-07-25
...and of course, his website

Gordon Matzigkeit is working on something he calls the FIG license which is an attempt to strike a different balance between the author and the user than the GPL while still maintaining freedom. You might want to check it out.

All I claim is that it is not always in the best interests of the Creator to do things that maximize other peoples' benefit at their own expense. Here is the situation I imagine:

You are somebody who loves to paint houses, but nobody knows about you, and you don't have enough money to buy new houses so you can paint them.

And so, you make your own house a masterpiece, hoping that it will attract a buyer, so that you can move out of it and use the profits to buy another house (which you will then paint).

Sensing there is money to be made, a large corporation moves to your neighbourhood, and buys everybody else's house (but not yours). Then they use their extensive wealth to advertise your house on the front page of every paper.

The neighbourhood is in huge demand. People visit and move there in droves so that they can look at your beautiful house all day. The corporation makes a lot of money from selling the other, unadorned houses (especially the ones that have a clear view of your house).

However, you see none of that money. No matter how beautiful you make your house, nobody ever offers to buy it. No matter how many people you talk to, all you meet are people who want to look at your house, not live in it.

In fact, the corporation and your neighbours get extremely hostile when you talk about moving to another neighbourhood. In all senses of the word, they own you and your house, but they have not paid you for it.

The only payment they offer is advice and offers to improve the house. At first you accept them with great pleasure, but later you realize that many of them only care about the house, not you.

And so, shaking your head in disgust, you leave the neighbourhood. Some people miss you, others are angry at you, but you have already been replaced by teams of people who continue to paint your house, and make it into a greater masterpiece than even you could do.

Next time you begin painting a house, you think twice: ``Why will this be different than the last time?''

That is the question I had to ask myself after I quit working on GNU Libtool, and moved on to Debian GNU/Hurd.

The FIG License is an attempt to answer that question. I do not care about Free Software as much as I care about Creativity. I firmly believe that it is possible to be both moral and profitable, and I'm looking to make this dream a reality.

I want to eliminate SAS (Starving Artist Syndrome) from our world. Come and help me, if you believe in the cause. The only thing we Creators have to lose are our self-imposed chains.

Committed to freedom and diversity.

Posted by Gordon Matzigkeit:

As I've said before, you may be interested in the FIG License.

Committed to freedom and diversity.

Posted by Gordon Matzigkeit:

You may be interested in helping me work on the FIG License.

Committed to freedom and diversity.

However, as I wrote in a submission to Slashdot, I don't believe there is a conflict between the FSF's and FIG's idea of free software.
Committed to freedom and diversity.