6 ms·
The GPL will soon infect the whole galaxy.
by young_unixer 6y ago
The GPL will soon infect the whole galaxy.
- majkinetor 6y agoBig surprise waiting for aliens that plan to steal the tech and modify it for its own purposes... without publishing their changes on Earth :)
- repsilat 6y ago> There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the source code has been on display at your local galactic version control system in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years...
- gostsamo 6y agoYes, in a maze, with broken bulb, stolen staircase, and put in a cupboard with a sign "danger! jaguar inside".
- mkl 6y agoNot really, but I know which bit you mean: "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying “Beware of The Leopard“"
- gostsamo 6y agoOkay, I admit reading it in another language many years ago.
- emptyparadise 6y agoHonestly, that's relatively mild compared to some other "begrudgingly releasing our GPL code" implementations.
- usb0 6y agothat you prostetnic vogon jeltz? i wonder whether gpl is applicable outside of our apathetic bloody planet :-)
- mannerheim 6y agoThey only have to publish the source code to people who receive a copy of a binary.
- m4rtink 6y agoHmm, what about systems with just single star type object or more than two ? Sure, there migh be more binary star systems in the galaxy than the others but it still seems like a significant unaddressed edge case.
- bluGill 6y agoOnly if their legal system recognizes earth copyrights. They have no reason to do that.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoThe IMF will offer them big loans with the stipulation that they “harmonize” their legal codes to include IP restrictions.
- munk-a 6y agoIt's alright - the Trans-Galactic Partnership Treaty has been confirmed and all the signatories agreed to unilaterally include all unsigned lifeforms in the Galaxy. Honestly if these folks wanted a better deal they should've come to the table.
- bluGill 6y agoThe problem is the IMF can't get them anything. At the speed of light they can't even ask us to send anything, they and us are at the mercy of what the other chooses to send.
- hinkley 6y agoWe steal genes from fungi without rewarding them for their work, and do you know what they do to silk worms? Why should advanced aliens treat us any better?
- munk-a 6y agoI suddenly want to read a SciFi novel about a lawyer dispatched to Alpha Centauri as first contact to establish that the radio signals emanating from their planet infringe on Got to Give it Up by Marvin Gaye. Hey, if Snowpiercer can get a Netflix series then this is a slam-dunk for green lighting - let's serialize this while we're at it!
- invalidOrTaken 6y agoOnly tangentially related, but I quite enjoyed this short film on the topic of interstellar law: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8kOzRZK8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8kOzRZK8g
- bpcpdx 6y agoYear Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid is one where the entire galaxy got hooked on listening to our pop music that's been transmitting this whole time and how Earth is now owed insane amounts of money due to copyright.
- gabagool 6y agoWow! This is astonishingly similar subject matter! Just checked the ebook out from my library to read this weekend. Thanks!
- addandsubtract 6y agoA TV series based around the bureaucrats from A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Count me in.
- eggy 6y agoThat's why we sent GPL software. It will destroy the alien civilization from within!
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- wiz21c 6y agoPlease stop using the word "infect" when talking about GPL. Infect is a negatively biased term. It's not balanced regarding the benefits GPL software brought to many people.
- meetups323 6y ago`Infect` accurately describes a particular view of GPL. This is akin to saying "please stop holding that opinion, it it doesn't match my own opinion, therefore you shouldn't hold it either"
- orra 6y agoA term can be technically accurate, but biased because of its connotations. "Infect" has incredibly negative connotations. Why not say cross pollinate? Recently in the UK we have pundits talking about migrants as "infection vectors". This dehumanisation of humans coincides with the government illegally and immorally banning asylum seekers.
- meetups323 6y agoThe bias is the point. It's expressing an opinion. This isn't a government scientific report where the language should be as devoid of emotion as possible, this is an internet chatboard. Expressing opinions is the whole point.
- orra 6y agoThis is progress: previously you were pretending the term "infect" is neutral. People are entitled to opinions, but we're entitled to call out negative ones.
- meetups323 6y ago> previously you were pretending the term "infect" is neutral. Nope. I said "`Infect` accurately describes a particular view of GPL." This is true, and it says nothing about that point of view being neutral. In fact, quite the opposite.
- 7952 6y agoMay that is how the economy in star trek universe came about.
- foota 6y agoSomewhere in a galaxy far, far away: https://xkcd.com/344/ https://xkcd.com/344/
- drdeadringer 6y agoI am reminded of the types of OSs in Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness Upon The Sky" universe.
- gralx 6y agoPlease continue to use the word "infect" when talking about GPL. It exhausts the energy of those who police usage of words by perceived connotation, an activity that distracts from and interrupts fruitful discussion of more meaningful topics. Exhausting their energy is beneficial to us all.
- Koshkin 6y agoFor a second I read it as GNU Propulsion Laboratory.
- crazypython 6y agoThe GPL doesn't "infect" things. It merely requires software that uses it to be free software. For instance, you can extend GPL software, and dual-license your extension under MIT and GPL, though the GPL applies as long as your software is using the GPL component. In this case, the software you've written to extend the GPL, is not "infected" by it. It does not REQUIRE you to use only GPL, it requires you to make it AVAILABLE under GPL.
- p_l 6y agoIt only requires relicensing to GPL if the non-GPL software is "derived from" GPL component. Otherwise GPL doesn't apply except for the explicitly GPL licensed components. At least with GPLv2
- soheil 6y agoFirst I read this as JPL, which probably the same thing can be said about.
- emptyparadise 6y agoThe G in GNU shall stand for "Galactic"!