On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 6:40 PM, Byron Jeff wrote: >> ****************************************************** >> >From http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html: >> >> Nobody should be restricted by the software they use. There are four >> freedoms that every user should have: >> the freedom to use the software for any purpose, >> the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors, >> the freedom to change the software to suit your needs, and >> the freedom to share the changes you make. >> When a program offers users all of these freedoms, we call it free software. >> ****************************************************** >> >> To me GPL itself does not meet the 3rd conditions. BSD and >> Modified BSD does. So personally I like Modified BSD license >> better than GPL. >> > > We were talking about the first freedom, not the third. > > There's no point in getting into another GPL vs. BSD debate. That debate > hinges on the rights of the developer vs. the rights of the user. If you > believe that the BSD license is better then you also believe that the > rights of the developer should superceed the rights of the downstream user. I just want to say that FSF's own GPL does not meet its own definition of "free". In this aspect I think BSD meets FSF's definition of "free" better than GPL. On the practical side, BSD is very successful. On the other hand you can say GPL is even more successful. So in the end both have its places. And proprietary software has their places as well. I do not believe that Open Source is the only future for software. But it is certainly good since it provides one more choice for people. To have one more choice is always good to me. > That's a belief. I'm not going to bother trying to refute it. I agree with you. There is no point saying which license is better. As I said before, I am a pragmatist. I do not really care about which OS is better, which license is better. But I do have my own opinions on them. To me all things in existent must have their reason of existence. So even though I may or may not agree with them, I would think they must have some reasons to exist. Xiaofan -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist