[chat] Re: [SLUG] Freedom and Alternatives

[Conrad Parker <conrad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Dec 11, 2003 at 04:36:51PM +1100, Jeff Waugh wrote:
> <quote who="Mike MacCana">
> 
> > But a lot of people, including a good portion of Linux users (maybe even
> > most) have no idea what Open Source means other some vague notion that it
> > can be $free to acquire and comes with source code. This can include not
> > Open Source software such as QMail, Windows, or Pine.
> 
> Here's a question I've been asking a lot of people recently. Which do you
> care *more* about:
> 
>   a) An alternative to Windows
> 
>   b) Access to source code
> 
>   c) The ideal of continuing software freedom
> 
> Discuss. ;-)

none of these are as important as ensuring adequate financial gain for
software authors, which is why I choose the GNU General Public License
where appropriate; of all "open source" code licenses, only the GNU GPL
ensures that my improvements or fixes will be repaid by exchange of other
copyrighted works.

Linus weighs in: GPL no hippie dream
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/linux/story/0,10801,87964,00.html

Conrad.