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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!lucy.swin.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.Hawaii.Edu!news.uoregon.edu!leto.ou.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!news-xfer.netaxs.com!news.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!howland.erols.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!ais.net!arclight.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!news-m01.ny.us.ibm.net!news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net!not-for-mail From: mouth@ibm.net (Mouth of the South) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs BSD Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 20:42:16 -0500 Lines: 32 Message-ID: <5Pp9y0gTzz1B091yn@ibm.net> References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <32EA25AB.41C67EA6@freebsd.org> <m2zpxxtagf.fsf@desk.crynwr.com> <32EE6844.167EB0E7@FreeBSD.org> <E504AI.Jsu@bigbird.telly.org> <32F54717.41C67EA6@freebsd.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: slip129-37-195-144.nc.us.ibm.net Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:156054 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2228 In article <32F54717.41C67EA6@freebsd.org>, "John S. Dyson" <dyson@freebsd.org> wrote: >Actually, it is BSD freedom lovers who have the dissenting opinion BSD lovers want absolute freedom while GPL advocates are happy with relative freedom. Case in point. I am evaluating both BSD and Linux for my web site. I would even happily pay BSDI $995 for their distribution. It's just a drop in the big web bucket. However, if my web site becomes a commercial success, I will reinvest some of its earnings into FSF/Linux because I advocate the GPL, even though I may have chosen BSD to run my web site. What bitter and tragic irony that would be! I would not plan to reinvest any money into BSD simply because I expect GPL to prevail and Linux to proliferate in the long run, even though BSD may be technically superior today. Although BSD may have been the basis for my success, why should I repay any debt to a dying movement? Let's face it, there's little loyalty in our business. This is the seductive trap of the absolute freedom that BSD lovers crave. Since it can be abused, it will be abused, and since BSD advocates have propounded and demanded absolute freedom, they have no right to complain when abuse occurs. That's why it's called "absolute," as in "having no restriction, exception, or qualification." On the other hand, because GPL cannot be abused, it will not be abused. That's why I expect Linux and its GPL code to prevail.