Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!usc!bloom-beacon!think!think.com From: rlk@think.com (Robert Krawitz) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: Book on Emacs Summary Message-ID: <22832@news.Think.COM> Date: 24 Jun 89 01:13:53 GMT References: <8906232232.AA27409@dsys.ncsl.nist.gov> Sender: news@Think.COM Reply-To: rlk@think.com (Robert Krawitz) Organization: Thinking Machines Corp., Cambridge MA Lines: 19 In-reply-to: rbj@dsys.ncsl.nist.GOV (Root Boy Jim) The FSF has no objection that I can see to people making profits, even large ones (e. g. if I can get you to give me $5000 for an emacs source tape, I haven't violated the license as long as I don't hold you to any other terms that violate it). Given that the main goal of the licensing arrangement is to ensure free distribution, an alternative arrangement would be to sell the book with a copyleft. Given that books are usually sold at prices more or less in line with their copying cost, and that the quality of a photocopy is inferior to that of the original book, the sales probably wouldn't be impacted to any great degree, and the book would capture the spirit of the FSF. Companies generally don't care about shelling out $10 or $15 for a manual for each employee, and stocking some extras in case some get lost, but they definitely care about shelling out a few thousand for a software license. -- ames >>>>>>>>> | Robert Krawitz 245 First St. bloom-beacon > |think!rlk Cambridge, MA 02142 harvard >>>>>> . Thinking Machines Corp. (617)876-1111