[sword-devel] Fwd: GPL and other license related questions

[Paul Gear]

Chris Little wrote:
> ...
> No one who has argued against changing the current licensing has accused 
> commercial interests of being evil or has criticized the creation of 
> commercial software. The whole "commercial software is evil" meme came 
> from the other camp,
> ...
> We're not going to encourage any financial exploitation of Sword. We may 
> even frown on it. But we won't actively work to hinder you, provided you 
> obey the license.
> ...
>> I don't think that your choice of the GPL is a bad choice, but
>> I do think that you are seriously in error in jumping to the
>> conclusion that if it goes commercial it will be taking all your work
>> without any attribution or contribution.  I'm not even convinced that
>> lots of commercial software would want to use Sword.
> ...
> The issue isn't Logos or BibleWorks using Sword code. The issue is 
> people who assume GPL means PD, take our work, rename & repackage, 
> remove attribution (at least at purchase time), rip off customers by 

I don't want to add fuel to the fire here, but using the terms
"commercial" and "financial exploitation" whilst in any way suggesting
that the GPL is against them is misleading.  The GPL is about free as in
free speech, not free as in free lunch [1], and the opposition to this
kind of freedom is proprietary software (the people who rename,
repackage, and remove attribution).

There are plenty of ways people can get "free lunch" Bibles, but Sword
is the only major source of "free speech" Bibles and software, and this
is what needs emphasizing, IMO.

Paul
<http://paul.gear.dyndns.org>

[1] Being a teetotaler, i prefer "free lunch" to the FSF's "free beer"
analogy. ;-)  It also ties in the old adage "there's no such thing as a
free lunch", which Free Software has disproven time after time!  :-)

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