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From: baud@eedsp.eedsp.gatech.edu (Kurt Baudendistel)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: The meaning of FREE in FSF
Message-ID: <696@eedsp.eedsp.gatech.edu>
Date: 21 Dec 89 18:11:57 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 36

Having read some misinformation on this topic recently in this group,
I have to set the record straight:-)

  The ``free'' in Free Software Foundation does NOT mean ``free of 
  charge.'' The copyleft does NOT require you to give away software
  to all comers for no charge.

  The copyleft does require you to give all rights to any software
  that you sell to your customer. This includes the right to the source
  code (you must supply it to your customer) as well as the right to
  sell the source (the customer can resell the product or give it
  away as he likes).  This means that copylefted software is ``free''
  of encumberences, except for the ``encumberence'' that the software,
  or any derivatives of it, must remain ``free'' of encumberences.
  
  As a matter of practicality, once you ``sell'' some copylefted
  software, your customer can ``sell'' it as well and is instantly
  your competitor (for selling that software, that is). In fact,
  your customer can give it away if s/he likes.  So as a pratical
  matter, you can only (really) sell support services for copylefted 
  material, unless your customers are nice to you and don't ``take
  advantage of you,'' whatever that means.

How do I know all of this? If you read the GPL carefully (and get some
straight answers from appropriate sources about what it really says),
you too will come to the realizations outlined above.

Maybe FSF should change its name to the Unencumbered Software Foundation
(coined by manis@cs.ubc.ca (Vincent Manis)) so that there is no more
confusion on this topic?

kurt
-- 
Kurt Baudendistel --- GRA
Georgia Tech, School of Electrical Engineering, Atlanta, GA  30332
internet: baud@eedsp.gatech.edu         uucp: gatech!gt-eedsp!baud