quoted by Dan Lyons: http://floatingpoint.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/off-the-record/
------ People find the GPL very hard to understand. Its not written in a style that is a typical license style. Licensing lawyers write in a particular style because its precise. Its hard to understand but if you sit down and concentrate you are supposed to be able to understand it. The GPL is written in a style that is supposed to be a lay persons style But lay people have a really hard time understanding it. The GPL was not really written in a way that a lawyer would write it, meaning its not precise. People have a great deal of difficulty understanding what it says. GPLv3 is even more of a mix of legal language and non-legal language. Its not making things simpler. To be candid, in writing it in such an unclear fashion theyre creating a lot of work for people like me. People in the business community dont understand it at all. They are used to reading legal licenses. I get calls from licensing lawyers, saying, `Gee, I read this license and I dont know what it means. I say, `Are you talking about the GPL? They say, `Yeah, have you read this thing? I say, `Its okay, nobody understands this thing. And thats the GPLv2. The GPLv3 is even worse. ------ regards, alexander. _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
