8 ms·

All this discussion about the GPL being the only way to protect users seems to be ignoring the fact that the GPL is largely irrelevant in the web era. All of us

All this discussion about the GPL being the only way to protect users seems to be ignoring the fact that the GPL is largely irrelevant in the web era. All of us are using proprietary software that contains GPL code every single day. We can't see the code because the GPL has no effect on networked applications. That seems to be a much more important battle to fight, rather than trying to stop people using GCC for code completion and refactoring in emacs.

viraptor 12y ago
Isn't that exactly what AGPL is trying to stop?
- justincormack 12y ago
  None of those web companies will use agpl software.
  - dengnan 12y ago
    Well. Lots of them use mongodb though.
    - anon1385 12y ago
      mongodb has a licence exception to allow people to use it without releasing the code for the rest of their app: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8966182 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8966182
- lmm 12y ago
  Yes, but no-one's using it.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    Massive implementations of Odoo/OpenERP in some of the largest corporations and public entities of some countries beg to disagree :)
    - coldtea 12y ago
      Nobody cares for those. We're talking at the level of Google YouTube, Facebook etc here.
      - anonbanker 12y ago
        This is a "No True Scotsman" fallacy.
        coldtea 12y ago
        "No true Scotchman" only applies if someone purposefully constraints the set that he talks about to win an argument, not when he had some typical Scotish qualities in mind in the first place (as opposed to outlier characterists) and merely clarifies that. Some AGPL installations of a niche software ain't exactly refutation of the parent, unless by "nobody" he meant actually "absolutely 0 people", which I don't think anybody did. Nodody is a stand-in for "not significant numbers". What percentage of projects announced and featured in HN in the last 5 years use that licence?
        lappa 12y ago
        It's not worth it reasoning with this guy. I had a very similar situation with this guy. I asked him "are you claiming X", which he said was a strawman, then refused to explain what he was claiming and called me a sockpuppet. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8940531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8940531
        anonbanker 12y ago
        man, talk about your sour grapes. two days after the thread was frontpaged, even. anyone that reads the link will see how your post was an obvious strawman. You even finished the thread saying "I'm done". and now you're on an unrelated thread, clearly not being done with it. Nice to see you again, though.
        12y ago
deleted 12y ago
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viraptor 12y ago

Isn't that exactly what AGPL is trying to stop?

justincormack 12y ago
None of those web companies will use agpl software.
- dengnan 12y ago
  Well. Lots of them use mongodb though.
  - anon1385 12y ago
    mongodb has a licence exception to allow people to use it without releasing the code for the rest of their app: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8966182 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8966182
lmm 12y ago
Yes, but no-one's using it.
- icebraining 12y ago
  Massive implementations of Odoo/OpenERP in some of the largest corporations and public entities of some countries beg to disagree :)
  - coldtea 12y ago
    Nobody cares for those. We're talking at the level of Google YouTube, Facebook etc here.
    - anonbanker 12y ago
      This is a "No True Scotsman" fallacy.
      - coldtea 12y ago
        "No true Scotchman" only applies if someone purposefully constraints the set that he talks about to win an argument, not when he had some typical Scotish qualities in mind in the first place (as opposed to outlier characterists) and merely clarifies that. Some AGPL installations of a niche software ain't exactly refutation of the parent, unless by "nobody" he meant actually "absolutely 0 people", which I don't think anybody did. Nodody is a stand-in for "not significant numbers". What percentage of projects announced and featured in HN in the last 5 years use that licence?
        lappa 12y ago
        It's not worth it reasoning with this guy. I had a very similar situation with this guy. I asked him "are you claiming X", which he said was a strawman, then refused to explain what he was claiming and called me a sockpuppet. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8940531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8940531
        anonbanker 12y ago
        man, talk about your sour grapes. two days after the thread was frontpaged, even. anyone that reads the link will see how your post was an obvious strawman. You even finished the thread saying "I'm done". and now you're on an unrelated thread, clearly not being done with it. Nice to see you again, though.
        12y ago

deleted 12y ago

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