Xref: utzoo comp.misc:6661 gnu.misc.discuss:50 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!husc6!bu-cs!bucsb!ckd From: ckd@bucsb.UUCP (Christopher Davis) Newsgroups: comp.misc,gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: BISON, GCC, and the GNU public license. (Re: increasing yacc states) Message-ID: <2932@bucsb.UUCP> Date: 29 Jul 89 01:16:46 GMT References: <26@ark1.nswc.navy.mil> <26695@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <5303@ficc.uu.net> <26719@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Reply-To: ckd@bucsb.bu.edu (Christopher K Davis) Followup-To: gnu.misc.discuss Organization: Boston University School of Management Lines: 50 In article <26719@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> ked@garnet.berkeley.edu (Earl H. Kinmonth) writes: -[much heated debate removed along with attribution which is not important -to the point I want to make.] - ->Don't you suppose that the author of a program that happens to have ->been compiled with the GCC compiler using the GNU libraries should ->have more right to the program than the FSF? - -Can someone explain to me how it is software vendors can assert control -over what is done with a product once it is sold? (I mean the -~reasoning~ behind the law, not the law itself.) - -Simple soul that I am, I think in analogies. For example, I buy a Caddy -rag top. The license from GM specifies "daily, domestic use only." This -precludes going to a drive in and necking. However, for an extra fee, I -can purchase an unrestricted nocturnal-use license that permits -after-dark usage. I must, however, present a copy of the usage -agreement every time I climb in the backseat. Unless I purchase "under -the hood rights," I cannot (legally) open the sucker up to see how it -works. Still less can I modify what I find there or trade chunks with -anyone else. - -Simple soul that I am, I think in analogies (and repeat myself). Since -most commercial software is about as reliable as GM automobiles (which -is to say, not very), when you buy (or are given) it, as long as you do -not kill anyone with it or prevent dogs from finding fire hydrants with -it, you should be able to do whatever you want with the object in -question. Including use your "magic duplicating ray" to give away lots of GM cars? The analogy fails because information is easy to duplicate at very low materials cost, unlike cars. To use it anyway (:-), what if Ford then offered a better car --for free-- that had the caveat that you could never use it to make money? AT ALL? Interesting thought... Crossposted to gnu.misc.discuss for those who get it, because this thread is definitely suited for it... and left in comp.misc for those who don't. Followups to gnu.misc.discuss (and remember, folks, if you don't get gnu.*, there is a mailing list...). -- /\ | / |\ @bu-pub.bu.edu | Christopher K. Davis, BU SMG '90 / |/ | \ %bu-pub.bu.edu@bu-it.bu.edu | uses standardDisclaimer; \ |\ | / | BITNET: smghy6c@buacca \/ | \ |/ @bucsb.UUCP or ...!bu-cs!bucsb!ckd if you gotta. --"Ignore the man behind the curtain and the address in the header." --ckd--