On 01/03/2013 10:44 AM, Jerry Feldman wrote:
From time to time, we have had speakers on various OpenSource licensing
speak at the BLU. The GPL was born because developers were contributing
their stuff to the public domain, and some people were grabbing those
and copyrighting that code. The original GPL was also referred to as
"copyleft". But, there are a lot of issues with all licensing. Take a
commercial closed-source project that runs on Linux, but it incorporates
some GPL'd code into its product, such as Bison and Flex. The
closed-source developer needs to be careful that his code does not
become polluted by the GPL, and at the same time he needs to be
respectful of the third-party licensing or code that he distributed. For
instance, most code on Linux is compiled using some version of GCC. It
also uses libraries, like libc that is GPL code.
In any case, maybe we can set up a future BLU meeting and get a speaker
who can simply explain both GPL as well as other OpenSource licenses
like Apache, BSD, and a few others.
I agree, that would be good as there is a lot of dis-information to be
cleared up. However, I grow concerned that we are becoming complacent in
advocating freedom. While it is true that Linux has made great strides
and it is unlikely that it will be killed off by competition, the
freedoms which it is supposed to embody are fading.
Everything from DRM to UEFI is a direct assault on digital freedom. As
computers become more and more the very conduit of communication and
information, there has NEVER been a platform that delivers so utter and
complete control to so few. The likes of Apple, Microsoft, and, yes,
google not to mention comcast, RIAA, and MPIAA seek to take control of
your property and limit what you can see and what you can "remember" and
document. A newspaper that documents corruption is useless as historical
evidence if the corrupted can erase or re-write the "print" remotely at
any time. Similarly, books that can be altered or deleted at any time
can not protect freedom in any sense.
We need to pick up the torch again for digital freedom and try to get
the next generation to understand the problems that we helped create and
they must confront. It is scary what is going on in America, the land
where corporations are people.
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