Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!gatech!hao!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!pixar!bp
From: bp@pixar.uucp (Bruce Perens)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: GNU C++ for toolkits - you can charge for support.
Message-ID: <1447@pixar.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 88 09:08:55 GMT
References: <2479@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <8801261220.AA26059@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
Sender: news@pixar.UUCP
Reply-To: bp@pixar.UUCP (Bruce Perens)
Organization: Pixar -- Marin County, California
Lines: 19

# From: bilbo.geoff@SEAS.UCLA.EDU (Geoff Kuenning)
# Message-ID: <8801261220.AA26059@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
# Wrong yourself.  Such a deal, if I want to use Gnu C++ I am forced to be
# ready at any time to make a large and complex source distribution available
# to my customers;  among other things this opens me up to the possibility
# of legal action from them should Gnu C++ fail on them.

Stallman's "copyleft" (silly name) allows you to offer warranty protection
for GNU software in exchange for a fee (section 3, paragraph c). That same
paragraph allows you to charge a distribution fee for the act of transferring
a copy. So you can be compensated for your liability and for making the
distribution available - is that so unreasonable? FSF publishes a list
of people who will support GNU software for a fee - it's in the emacs
source distribution, file etc/support.
					Bruce Perens
					bp@pixar
===
I'm not a lawyer, and these are my personal opinions, not those of my
employer or any other party.