5 ms·

I just donated $15. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?

by igl 12y ago

meira 12y ago
I just donated $20. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
- ownagefool 12y ago
  I just donated $25. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
  - aorth 12y ago
    I just donated $25. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
    - reitanqild 12y ago
      Just donated $5.
      - jgmmo 12y ago
        ditto!
    - pyrois 12y ago
      I just donated $30. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
      - jjaredsimpson 12y ago
        I just donated $20. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        geoelectric 12y ago
        Honestly, I think the best way to promote open source licenses over free software copyleft licenses is to make sure the GPL has obvious, proven teeth. That way, commercial companies that don't want to risk the successful lawsuit and just want to build on existing code will go the MIT/BSD route exclusively; and GPL can remain in the academic and the ideologically-driven free software sector where it's really much more suited. If a company then wants to actually be a free software-based company, more power to them, but there'll be a lot less stumbling into that situation and half-assing the ethics of it like we see now. If nothing else, giving the GPL teeth will force the confrontations and precedents that finally define the boundaries of the copyleft concept and let people make more informed choices.
        sangnoir 12y ago
        VMWare knew the software was licensed under GPL for years. They chose to violate the terms of the license - that's what matters here. They could have chosen to base off BSD licensed code, but they did not Would you be ok with them breaking the terms of the MIT/BSD license?I'm not familiar with the MIT/BSD restrictions, but I think one of them is to acknowledge original author? How would you feel if they violated that?
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        Arnt 12y ago
      - AngrySkillzz 12y ago
        I just donated $40. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
    - Gurkenmaster 12y ago
      Is this some kind of parallelogram scheme?
      - alok-g 12y ago
        These are copyright violations happening here and now right before our eyes (!), though probably with tacit mutual (but unverified) consent. See my related comment here about increasing general awareness about IP issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9157590 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9157590
jodrellblank 12y ago
Excuse me, igl, I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as large companies, are in fact, GNU/large companies, or as I've recently taken to calling them, GNU plus large companies. Large companies are not capitalist entities unto themselves, but rather a semi-free component of a fully functioning capitalist system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full corporate person as defined by law. Many capitalist systems run with a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used in large companies today is often ignored, and many citizens are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really are large companies, but they are just a part of the wider system. Large companies are the parts we see every day: the people we buy goods and services from, allocating the world's resources for their customers. Large companies are an essential part of a capitalist system, but useless by themselves; they can only function in the context of a complete capitalist system. Large companies normally exist in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with large companies added, or GNU/Large companies. All the so-called large companies are really distributions of GNU/large companies.

I just donated $15. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?

by igl 12y ago

I just donated $15. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?

meira 12y ago

I just donated $20. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?

ownagefool 12y ago
I just donated $25. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
- aorth 12y ago
  I just donated $25. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
  - reitanqild 12y ago
    Just donated $5.
    - jgmmo 12y ago
      ditto!
  - pyrois 12y ago
    I just donated $30. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
    - jjaredsimpson 12y ago
      I just donated $20. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        geoelectric 12y ago
        Honestly, I think the best way to promote open source licenses over free software copyleft licenses is to make sure the GPL has obvious, proven teeth. That way, commercial companies that don't want to risk the successful lawsuit and just want to build on existing code will go the MIT/BSD route exclusively; and GPL can remain in the academic and the ideologically-driven free software sector where it's really much more suited. If a company then wants to actually be a free software-based company, more power to them, but there'll be a lot less stumbling into that situation and half-assing the ethics of it like we see now. If nothing else, giving the GPL teeth will force the confrontations and precedents that finally define the boundaries of the copyleft concept and let people make more informed choices.
        sangnoir 12y ago
        VMWare knew the software was licensed under GPL for years. They chose to violate the terms of the license - that's what matters here. They could have chosen to base off BSD licensed code, but they did not Would you be ok with them breaking the terms of the MIT/BSD license?I'm not familiar with the MIT/BSD restrictions, but I think one of them is to acknowledge original author? How would you feel if they violated that?
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        Arnt 12y ago
    - AngrySkillzz 12y ago
      I just donated $40. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
  - Gurkenmaster 12y ago
    Is this some kind of parallelogram scheme?
    - alok-g 12y ago
      These are copyright violations happening here and now right before our eyes (!), though probably with tacit mutual (but unverified) consent. See my related comment here about increasing general awareness about IP issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9157590 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9157590

jodrellblank 12y ago

Excuse me, igl, I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as large companies, are in fact, GNU/large companies, or as I've recently taken to calling them, GNU plus large companies. Large companies are not capitalist entities unto themselves, but rather a semi-free component of a fully functioning capitalist system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full corporate person as defined by law. Many capitalist systems run with a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used in large companies today is often ignored, and many citizens are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really are large companies, but they are just a part of the wider system. Large companies are the parts we see every day: the people we buy goods and services from, allocating the world's resources for their customers. Large companies are an essential part of a capitalist system, but useless by themselves; they can only function in the context of a complete capitalist system. Large companies normally exist in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with large companies added, or GNU/Large companies. All the so-called large companies are really distributions of GNU/large companies.