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From: simon@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk (Simon Richardson)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: Summary of Linux vs. 386BSD vs. Commercial Unixes
Date: 28 Apr 1993 08:17:54 GMT
Organization: Univ. of London, Royal Holloway College.
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In article <1993Apr23.073110.14397@klaava.Helsinki.FI>, wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) writes:
>
> I agree.  You have identified the heart of the issue, which is where
> the dialog should be focused: 
>
>  *** What do you want other people to do with your code? ***
>
> /// The GNU answer is that it is better to 
>     prevent commercial companies from using it.
>     (not without sources, blah, blah, blah)
>     GNU want to see better GNU software.
>
> /// The BSD answer is that it is better to also allow 
>     commercial companies to use it.
>     We want to see better free software AND better commercial software.
>
> So you decide which you believe, and release your code accordingly.
>
>  -Kelly Murray (kem@cis.ufl.edu)



kem@cis.ufl.edu (Kelly Murray) writes:
>
> I agree.  You have identified the heart of the issue, which is where
> the dialog should be focused: 
> 
>  *** What do you want other people to do with your code? ***
> 
> /// The GNU answer is that it is better to 
>     prevent commercial companies from using it to 
>     create new and improved proprietary versions, or
>     incorporating it into existing proprietary software.
>     GNU wants its work to be used to only create better GNU software.
>  
> /// The BSD answer is that it is better to also allow 
>     proprietary work to be created with the software.
>     BSD wants to see better free software AND better proprietary software.
> 
> So you decide which answer you believe will create more benefits
> for both computer USERS and computer PROGRAMMERS in the world
> and release your code accordingly.
> 
>  -Kelly Murray (kem@cis.ufl.edu)
>


Oops.  I got onto this thread late, 'cos I've only recently arrived on this
newsgroup.  I normally spend my time on other, less practical and more "bull
oriented" newsgroups, that deal with issues like "how do we think, feel and
act".  (EG alt.polyamory)

***112:    ^ Wierdo error


In these other newsgroups, a lot of the threads can be boiled down to "this
is the moral way to behave" v "no one can stop me from doing what I want to
do" argument.  It all gets a bit fundamental, and the old hands switch off.

Tired of all this, I go to a group that might show me a little of how to
manage a 386BSD setup.  And what do I find?  

Well, come on people.  At least head your posts either "I feel I have a
right to tell people what to do" or "I have a right to do as I please". 
That way we will have some chance of figuring out why people are flaming one
another.

I use 386BSD because it seems to work, and it lets me work on UNIX without
lashing out quantities of groats.  (I don't *have* quantities of groats.
:-( )  I am not sure if, should I develop a useful UNIX application and
attempt to market it (quite likely) I would switch to SCO UNIX for the
sales.  But that depends on how I interpret the licensing agreements.
It also depends on how much I want to be involved in "UNIX support".  You
know, like answering telephones and driving the country in vans?  You know,
like *boring* stuff?

When I release code, I either give it away or sell it.  I don't worry about
rights.  If I want to worry about rights, I sell it to someone and let them
worry.  If I don't, I don't.  

To quote Benjy Mouse (a hyperintellegent pandimensional galactic being) "If
it comes to a question of taking the money and running, then I for one could
do with the exercise."



	Simon

---

"A thousand violins cloy very rapidly without percussion"
						John Fowles



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