Path: utzoo!telly!attcan!utgpu!watmath!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!ctrsol!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ginosko!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!uci-ics!usenet From: schmidt@glacier.ics.uci.edu (Doug Schmidt) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: Why Sakari does not support GNU Message-ID: <1989Oct23.082748.24704@paris.ics.uci.edu> Date: 23 Oct 89 15:27:48 GMT References: <8910160520.AA01740@sugar-bombs.ai.mit.edu> <1989Oct18.080301.23907@rpi.edu> <1130@mipos3.intel.com> Reply-To: schmidt@glacier.ics.uci.edu (Doug Schmidt) Distribution: gnu Organization: University of California, Irvine - Dept of ICS Lines: 42 In-reply-to: nate@hobbes.intel.com (Nate Hess) In article <1130@mipos3.intel.com>, nate@hobbes (Nate Hess) writes: >Also, Sakari's use of the word "can't", above, is a tad strong; it's not >that they *can't* use it, it's simply that they choose not to. Their >choice does not alter my or anyone else's ability to use the software. That's a very good point. I've also found from experience that many people make their `choice' based upon incorrect assumptions and flawed preconceptions. For example, immediately after releasing my gperf perfect hash function program on comp.sources.unix I received a massive flame from a person who basically said: `Shame on you for copylefting your code, since this means that no one will ever use it since their source will fall under the copyleft too.' Unfortunately, when shooting from the hip, this person failed to notice that the *output* from gperf (which is the useful part) is *not* copylefted. This means that anyone can use the generated perfect hash function in a proprietary program, charge $5,000,000 dollars for it, hoard the source (to their program), and there's no problem, legal, moral, or otherwise. When I pointed this out to the person he then said: `Oh sorry, you're right, but I was confused because GNU puts their copyleft in generated FLEX code, so I just assumed... etc.' Once again, complete nonsense masquerading as gospel (FLEX is actually copyrighted by The Regents of the University of California, and is only distributed by FSF, i.e., the FSF does not copyleft either the source code or the generated scanners). My point here is that many people are who think they *can't* use various GNU tools for fear of copyleft infringement are just choosing not to understand the issues. Doug -- Master Swordsman speak of humility; | schmidt@ics.uci.edu (ARPA) Philosophers speak of truth; | office: (714) 856-4034 Saints and wisemen speak of the Tao of no doubt; The moon, sun, and sea speaks for itself. -- Hiroshi Hamada