From: u1086aa@unx.ucc.okstate.edu (11086) Subject: Re: School Science Club may distribute Linux...interested? Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1993 05:33:19 GMT
In article <280b14$8e6@GRAPEVINE.LCS.MIT.EDU> olsen@HING.LCS.MIT.EDU (James Olsen) writes:
>In article <CDvo0C.4GI@acsu.buffalo.edu> ferrick@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick K. Ferrick) writes:
>>I said:
>
>>>>Our high school science club may distribute Linux on floppies as a
>>>>means of raising money for projects. What we're thinking of is
>>>>that instead of buying the floppies from us, people might be
>>>>interested in renting the disks (in order to make copies of them)
>
>>And I blew it big time. Sorry.
>
>In spite of what the self-appointed net guardians of GPL purity may
>have told you, your disk-rental idea is a fine one, and well within
>the spirit of the GPL.
>
[self-appointed net guardian-isms of GPL purity deleted]
>
>Don't believe the self-righteous GPL censors. The GPL is designed to
>promote the distribution of software by permitting people to copy
>and distribute it, either for profit or not.
Lighten up, guy! In the posts I have seen (and one by me), no one has
acted as a "self-righteous GPL censor". We simply saw a case where we
thought a GPL infringement **might** occur, warned the original poster
of this possibility, and asked experts on the GPL to comment. No one
tried to censor anything. We just wanted to maybe help a science club
avoid a rather sticky situation later. And I for one am glad this can be
resolved before they got started...it would have certainly caused a
few minutes of sleeplessness if they had been accused of (accidentally)
participating in an illegal activity after they had distributed several
copies (whether the accusations have grounds or not).
And by the way, I have no reason believe your interpretation of the
"spirit" of the GPL is the correct one, based on information given in
your post. Are you a member of the FSF? Or an attorney who specializes in
software? Also, does the intended spirit of a legal document mean diddly
anyway? I'm pretty sure (in the US anyway) that what is actually written
down is all that counts. Otherwise, how could people always find, and act
on, loopholes.
I would still like to hear comments on this issue from someone who has
something in his by-line that convinces me his interpretation is valid.
Flames will be read, considered, and answered if the flamer requests a
response.
Jim
==========
My opinions are my own
Jim West
Associate Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Oklahoma State University
jwest@jwest.ecen.okstate.edu