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Torvalds Critiques of GPLv3 and FSF Refuted
j00bar writes "After Linus Torvalds' impassioned critiques of the second draft of GPLv3 and the community process the FSF has organized, Newsforge's Bruce Byfield discovered in conversations with the members of the GPLv3 committees that the committee members disagree; they believe not only has the FSF been responsive to the committees' feedback but also that the second draft includes some modifications in response to Torvalds' earlier criticisms." NewsForge and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.
Hello,
Consulting for several large companies, I'd always done my work on
Windows. Recently however, a top online investment firm asked us to do
some work using Linux. The concept of having access to source code was
very appealing to us, as we'd be able to modify the kernel to meet our
exacting standards which we're unable to do with Microsoft's products.
Although we met several technical challenges along the way
(specifically, Linux's lack of Token Ring support and the fact that we
were unable to defrag its ext2 file system), all in all the process
went smoothly. Everyone was very pleased with Linux, and we were
considering using it for a great deal of future internal projects.
So you can imagine our suprise when we were informed by a lawyer that
we would be required to publish our source code for others to use. It
was brought to our attention that Linux is copyrighted under something
called the GPL, or the Gnu Protective License. Part of this license
states that any changes to the kernel are to be made freely available.
Unfortunately for us, this meant that the great deal of time and money
we spent "touching up" Linux to work for this investment firm would
now be available at no cost to our competitors.
Furthermore, after reviewing this GPL our lawyers advised us that any
products compiled with GPL'ed tools - such as gcc - would also have to
its source code released. This was simply unacceptable.
Although we had planned for no one outside of this company to ever
use, let alone see the source code, we were now put in a difficult
position. We could either give away our hard work, or come up with
another solution. Although it was tought to do, there really was no
option: We had to rewrite the code, from scratch, for Windows 2000.
I think the biggest thing keeping Linux from being truly competitive
with Microsoft is this GPL. Its draconian requirements virtually
guarentee that no business will ever be able to use it. After my
experience with Linux, I won't be recommending it to any of my
associates. I may reconsider if Linux switches its license to
something a little more fair, such as Microsoft's "Shared Source".
Until then its attempts to socialize the software market will insure
it remains only a bit player.
Thank you for your time.
This may be me going out on a limb but maybe Linus knows he personally will be allowed to tinker no matter what gets implimented. Remember that hes not immune to being corrupted by money too.
unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
we could eventually face a situation where it is literally impossible to develop FOSS for the latest generation of computers
Care to explain how this scenario is actually supposed to play out? And does your example require that the hardware makers conspire against OSS?
I no longer trust the FSF. I know a power play when I see one, and this isn't about freedom and fairness. They want to dictate how people use software. It's no longer about distribution.
You want a social revolution? Then let it happen, let it play out. If you want to push it forward, go develop something. If you're not a coder, go write or create something and release it under a CC license. The Revolution that the FSF is selling is top down, Stalinist/Leninist. I much prefer Linus's way, which reminds me more of a different Lennon.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
And you base this fear on what?
DRM is a boogie man that RMS is using to scare you and get you juiced up.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I think the question everyone would like answered is what is Linus' position on masturbation among slashdotters? Don't pretend we can't tell when you're typing with one hand!!!
Fag.