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List:       ruby-talk
Subject:    Re: GUI With Ruby
From:       Eleanor McHugh <eleanor () games-with-brains ! com>
Date:       2007-03-14 13:22:30
Message-ID: 30EF2467-8772-473B-A421-DBC61F2A3A44 () games-with-brains ! com
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On 14 Mar 2007, at 10:27, Chad Perrin wrote:
> I also think that once you *give away* or *sell* something, it is *no
> longer yours* and you no longer have a right, as author or  
> otherwise, to
> dictate how others dispose of it.  Period.  If you want to maintain
> control of it, keep it in your possession.  Otherwise, recognize that
> giving up possession (without explicit contractual agreements)  
> should be
> synonymous with giving up control.

Which if course is the main point of contention between the BSD and  
GPL camps. If I were to release code under BSD it would ensure I  
received recognition for the effort involved in writing it, if I  
released under GPL it would allow me to control how distributors and  
derivators used the code. The former is essentially a gift to the  
community (in the same way as a named Hospital Wing) whilst the  
latter is more akin to a feudal patent - only one where the  
obligation is measured in source code distribution and resubmission.

Of course I'm not sure Richard Stallman would wish to be described as  
architect of a system of feudal governance, but that's a discussion  
for another day ;p

What this all boils down to at core is this: both BSD and GPL folks  
are good, decent people. BSD folks like to give gifts to the  
individual developer whilst GPL folks prefer to give their gifts to  
the community of end-users - without the former the world would have  
a lot fewer clever developers, and without the latter we'd all be  
stuck with proprietary tools of dubious provenance.

Which of the two groups any one of us falls in at any given time  
surely depends on what we're hoping to achieve with our current project?


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
----
raise ArgumentError unless @reality.responds_to? :reason



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