No you don't. You can choose to ignore the terms of the GPL if you want. If you do that, you can still use it, but (as you note), you have no other right to modify or distribute it.
In other words, GPL is about granting rights, not taking rights away. Agreeing to GPL gives you more rights than not agreeing to it. If you don't agree to it, just treat the work like any other copywrited work.
Why is it that science journalism is always confirming what we already know and reinforcing common sense?
Well, that's pretty much the definition of science... You make a hypothesis of what you think is true, then perform and experiment. That either upholds the hypothesis or disproves it.
I've had enough of tools that optimize the first 10% of the learning curve to get a gentle curve, but plateau with a much higher ongoing cost for the other 90% of its lifetime...
I'm willing to put in the effort of a steep learning curve to get a better tool for the 90% I spend so much time in.
Slashdot Mirror
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=43670
http://lance.nasa.gov/
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/OMI/OMISO2/index.html
Can I for example, load OpenOffice.org on the Eee PC?
No need to -- It comes preloaded as a standard App.
No you don't. You can choose to ignore the terms of the GPL if you want. If you do that, you can still use it, but (as you note), you have no other right to modify or distribute it.
In other words, GPL is about granting rights, not taking rights away. Agreeing to GPL gives you more rights than not agreeing to it. If you don't agree to it, just treat the work like any other copywrited work.
Why is it that science journalism is always confirming what we already know and reinforcing common sense?
Well, that's pretty much the definition of science... You make a hypothesis of what you think is true, then perform and experiment. That either upholds the hypothesis or disproves it.
I've had enough of tools that optimize the first 10% of the learning curve to get a gentle curve, but plateau with a much higher ongoing cost for the other 90% of its lifetime...
I'm willing to put in the effort of a steep learning curve to get a better tool for the 90% I spend so much time in.