I will use the "Royal you" in writing this. It's not referring just to Visser, Martin, but to all the readers.
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:40, Visser, Martin wrote: > Huh? When did this thread become a debate on the definition of Free or > Open Source Software? When this group decided to advertise itself as a Linux user's group. Linux is GPL, not Open Source. Open Source allows restriction, GPL works decidedly against restriction - they are aligned by accident in some ways, and diametrically opposed in others. Linux came in on the GPL Free Software side - not the Open Source side - that's the philosophy and the license chosen. Linus was not bamboozled into this - he's smart and made his choice consciously - and he chose Free Software. He's the founder and the copyright holder - perhaps we know his philosophy about Linux from this? Open Source is an industry initiative, and allows restrictive licenses that allow reading the code, but not using it except at the company's terms. GPL Free Software explicitly prevents all restriction, except the reverse restriction that you can't use Free Software unless you make it free to everyone. Pretending they are the same does not make them the same - and doesn't provide an excuse for conflating them, either. Misappropriation of Free Software is just as unethical and illegal as software published under any other license - or your laws and your courts are dishonest and meaningless. So, since this group advertises itself as a Linux user's group - and Linux is completely Free Software, not Open Source (Linux being the kernel, although many surrounding packages are also GPL), I wondered if telling people they can't say certain things is really in the spirit of Linux. Copyright law holds that code is speech. It is an expression of thought, like a poem. The person that says it naturally owns it. I can't publish your writing over my name - I didn't say it, you did. I can't decide how it's used - it's yours. And I can't use code you wrote - unless you say I can, by granting me a license. Open Source software allows censorship of ideas - you can read the code, but may not be granted a license to use it (that is, say it yourself in your own pursuits). Free Software at it's core intends to make sure everyone can use code published under it's license, and no one can say "no, you can't use those ideas unless you ________ (pay me and behave in certain ways, usually)". Free Software is deliberately opposed to Open Source - read their philosophy. So, as this group calls itself a Linux user's group, I was curious about how they hold the idea of Free Software, and how they support it or don't. Curtailing speech is consonant with Open Source (restrictive licenses welcome) but is it in line with Free Software (restrictive licenses not allowed)? If the group is actually promoting Linux, then they are promoting Free Software - as that's what Linux is and is about. Ask Linus. If the group couldn't care less about the philosophy of Linux (which is Free Software, not Open Source), should it promote itself as a Linux User's Group? Perhaps it should be an Open Source Software Group, or a Cheap or No Cost Software Group. Do you have a claim to the term 'Linux' if you don't actually hold to the Free Software philosophy? Are you flying under false colors, using someone else's image as your own? And is telling people they can't say certain things consonant with Free Software - with the approach, with the philosophy? You can have group rules that limit people's behavior in participation in the group, but are you really a Linux user's group philosophically - do you walk the talk? Is this about Free Software, because Linux is about Free Software - it says so in no uncertain legal terms. I'm wondering about this, and thinking about it, and so I posed the question to see what people have to say, to see if they've thought about it. I posted this to the list, please reply on the list. Regards, Bret
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