The makers of proprietary operating systems (okay, only Microsoft) are constantly trying to separate themselves from free software, so I guess the question is whether we want to declare proprietary systems obsolete and move on.
It's basically a question of whether or not we (the free OS community) want to compete head-on with the proprietary OS companies. If we're going to go into fierce competition with proprietary systems, we're not going to want to give those systems any advantages, like using free software on proprietary systems.
I expect there will be a never-ending flamewar about this, because people with different visions will have different opinions on this matter.
I think, in the end, there will be five mindsets when it comes to software licencing:
Strict Proprietary - No source; binaries are purchased.
Source Proprietary - Source comes with purchased binaries.
Public Domain - source available for free with no strings attached.
Loose Free - The current GPLv2; binaries can be distributed for any system.
Strict Free - Like GPLv2, but without the "proprietary OS" exception; binaries can only be distributed for free systems.
Failing to understand each other, these groups will be in constant conflict and will fragment the market. ------
Sorta. Most people have a clause like the following in their copyright statement:
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License,
or
(at your option) any later version.
This gives RMS some influence, but it's not in the GPL itself, so you don't have to trust RMS if you don't want to (see what Linus did with his contributions to the kernel). ------
Please note that he's not the typical GPL supporter. I am a GPL supporter, and I really don't mind if people make money from my software. I think my mindset is more common than that of the parent of your post. ------
As someone said before, that's not freedom, but anarchy. If I am "free" to shoot you in the head for no reason, do you consider yourself to be living in a free nation? ------
In a realistic sense, it doesn't limit it, but require it (source code with all binaries). In a strict Copyright law sense, it restricts by saying if you don't distribute source, you can't distribute anything.
Saying the GPL is restrictive is purely semantic. ------
Several years before the TiVo even existed, I had this idea of building a hard drive with two separate head columns, for instant replay/slow motion effects during live events.
Although the TiVo is new and arguably innovative, it only deserves 2 years of patent protection, because anyone else could have done it (including me, once I get old enough to have the resources to do so). ------
That isn't in the scope of X11. X is just a big framebuffer merging and layering program. It doesn't handle widgets, or mouse pointer selection or anything else like that.
I'm not satisfied with the current GUIs either. They're either too inefficient or have dumb usability issues. When I get time (which will probably be several years from now, but I'll do it), I'll write a half-decent desktop system (it'll probably turn into a GNU/HURD distro) that doesn't suck. XFce and fspanel are steps in the right direction, but fspanel is too generic and XFce has gross usability problems.
My first step will be to learn Objective-C. Any good resources? ------
Uh... MAPS didn't block the IP traffic. Above.net blocked the IP traffic. MAPS simply has a listing that says "this is a site with a spamming problem". ------
Slashdot Mirror
What about your (now legally binding) PGP passphrase?
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It's basically a question of whether or not we (the free OS community) want to compete head-on with the proprietary OS companies. If we're going to go into fierce competition with proprietary systems, we're not going to want to give those systems any advantages, like using free software on proprietary systems.
I expect there will be a never-ending flamewar about this, because people with different visions will have different opinions on this matter.
I think, in the end, there will be five mindsets when it comes to software licencing:
Failing to understand each other, these groups will be in constant conflict and will fragment the market.
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People don't all stor their kernel sources in /usr/src/linux .
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GPL FAQ? Do you have a link?
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Have you emailed nVidia to nag it to release the source today?
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Correction: GPL is freedom; public domain is anarchy. Some people don't mind anarchy (which is fine, in this case).
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... and I received no such email.
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This gives RMS some influence, but it's not in the GPL itself, so you don't have to trust RMS if you don't want to (see what Linus did with his contributions to the kernel).
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Please note that he's not the typical GPL supporter. I am a GPL supporter, and I really don't mind if people make money from my software. I think my mindset is more common than that of the parent of your post.
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As someone said before, that's not freedom, but anarchy. If I am "free" to shoot you in the head for no reason, do you consider yourself to be living in a free nation?
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Saying the GPL is restrictive is purely semantic.
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Although the TiVo is new and arguably innovative, it only deserves 2 years of patent protection, because anyone else could have done it (including me, once I get old enough to have the resources to do so).
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Wanna back that statement up, please?
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IIRC, GPL v3 is in the works, according to the FSF.
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s/gotten out of hand/made an error/
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Setting up a set of VMs inside the VM would be the really fun part of having this whole system.
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What about Progeny? It's got a flashy GUI and it's Debian-based-and-compatible.
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We don't like Microsoft, but we (in general) like IBM, so we'll do IBM a few favours if it benefits us too.
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I'm not satisfied with the current GUIs either. They're either too inefficient or have dumb usability issues. When I get time (which will probably be several years from now, but I'll do it), I'll write a half-decent desktop system (it'll probably turn into a GNU/HURD distro) that doesn't suck. XFce and fspanel are steps in the right direction, but fspanel is too generic and XFce has gross usability problems.
My first step will be to learn Objective-C. Any good resources?
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Select the text in one window, and middle-click in another.
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I hope this doesn't become too widely-used. Can you say routing nightmare?
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Uh... MAPS didn't block the IP traffic. Above.net blocked the IP traffic. MAPS simply has a listing that says "this is a site with a spamming problem".
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If only...
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Does someone have the actual RBL entry including the real reason Macromedia was on the RBL in the first place?
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You can say that again. All of it.
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