On Sun, 2003-09-28 at 15:39, Steve Dibb wrote: > This just occurred to me ... if I totally screw the EULA, how can I at > the same time praise, promote, and adhere to the GPL? > > Hmm. > > At least the GPL makes it obvious that you're not legally bound to agree > to its terms since you never signed it. > > Okay, I feel better now. It's just a matter of agreeing with the > licenses that ethically appeal to me. :)
There's more to it than that. With the GPL, you know what you're getting. Many EULA are hidden behind shrink wrap, you can't find out what you're agreeing to until its too late. Most stores won't accept software that has been opened. Some EULA even making opening the shrink wrap that act that confirms your acceptance of it. This is obviously insane, but no one has challenged it yet. Not all EULA are so insane. For example, while they may contain unreasonable terms, at least Microsoft shows you the agreement attached to updates before manually installing them. As for auto-updates.... The GPL doesn't kick in until you redistribute. You can use and modify GPL software as you like. You aren't bound by its terms until you start to redistribute that software, and then it only limits how you can redistribute it. When you start distributing it, you can charge whatever you want for the software. The only limitation is that you provide the source for a reasonable fee. (You don't even have to give a copy of the source for free.) In fact, you can distribute GPL software but not put your changes under the GPL as long as you don't distribute the changed version of the software. -- Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED], AIM:StuartMJansen> #define FALSE 0 /* This is the naked Truth */ #define TRUE 1 /* and this is the Light */ -- mailto.c
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