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On Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:58:21 +0000 "Ben Goodger" <goodgerster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On 28/01/07, Neil Williams <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > I know what you meant though. > > > I meant precisely what I said - that software should not be > constricted by copyrights So you want all software to be public domain? Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX already include large amounts of public domain code, typically lifted from BSD. BSD-style licences allow this. The GPL does not. Access to the source code of public domain code is not guaranteed - anyone can take public domain code, modify it and put it under a non-disclosure agreement or any other EULA. The original remains free but because the changes are proprietary, the final package is likely to be incompatible with any software derived from the original public domain code. That cannot happen with the GPL - the modifications must also be free. Without free source code you cannot have free software. Without free modifications, you cannot retain free software for the future. If software is not constricted by copyrights, you lose all access to the source code - it becomes proprietary. Just try to get the source code of the modifications to BSD code within Windows. It is there, it is based on BSD code but it is hard to interoperate with it because Microsoft's modifications change the behaviour of the code in ways that cannot be determined without the source code for the modifications. Without copyright, there is no free software. Free software REQUIRES copyright - you cannot have free software that is wholly "unconstricted" by copyright. If you truly meant what you said then you are mistaken. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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