Path: utzoo!telly!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!vsi1!wyse!td2cad!mipos3!nate@hobbes.intel.com From: nate@hobbes.intel.com (Nate Hess) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: A fine point of Gen. Pub. License (was Re: Why I do not support GNU) Message-ID: <1128@mipos3.intel.com> Date: 22 Oct 89 04:46:01 GMT References: <8910160520.AA01740@sugar-bombs.ai.mit.edu> <1989Oct18.080236.23848@rpi.edu> <5889@tank.uchicago.edu> Sender: news@mipos3.intel.com Reply-To: woodstock@hobbes.intel.com (Nate Hess) Distribution: gnu Organization: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA Lines: 33 In-reply-to: matt@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Matt Crawford) Posting-Front-End: Gnews 2.0 In article <5889@tank.uchicago.edu>, matt@oddjob (Matt Crawford) writes: >One sticking point preventing them from using GNU software is the >meaning of the word "distribute" in the license. If they provided the >hypothetical GNU-derivative code to an employee to use or to maintain, >would the employee have the right to redistribute it further? If they >copied the to another office of the same company, would they have >distributed it? This doesn't seem as difficult an issue as you're making it. If some employee of the company gave a copy of the software to another office of the same company, then she is "distributing" that software, as the GPL uses the term. The receiver of the software can then request a copy of the source code if he so desires. Any company that denies its employees access to source code of internally developed and maintained software is asking for trouble. As to whether an employee has the right to redistribute the software further, all anyone who wishes to redistribute GNU-derived software has to ask herself is whether she is willing to provide machine-readable source code to the receivers of the software. >What is RMS's intention in the case of software intended to be used >privately in the conduct of a non-software business? I obviously can't speak for RMS, but I would only have three words as to how software should be used: Share, share, share! --woodstock -- "What I like is when you're looking and thinking and looking and thinking...and suddenly you wake up." - Hobbes woodstock@hobbes.intel.com ...!{decwrl|hplabs!oliveb}!intelca!mipos3!nate