GPL vs BSD Licence

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Miguel Mendez [mailto:flynn at energyhq.es.eu.org]
> Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 1:59 AM
> To: Ted Mittelstaedt
> Cc: davids at webmaster.com; chat at freebsd.org; TM4525 at aol.com
> Subject: Re: GPL vs BSD Licence
> 
> 
> I don't know if you're aware of this, but this kind is *useless*
> discussion has been going on on the mailing lists for *years*. Check
> groups.google.com and you'll see that everything you might want to add
> about GPL vs BSD has already been said a hundred times. John Dyson
> posted a lot about it, then Brett Glass did for a while, and now you.
> 

Have you ever stopped a minute to think about why this is?

FreeBSD is not a dead operating system.  Every day there are dozens if
not hundreds of NEW UERS who have NEVER encountered these 'useless
discussions'.  To them, these discussions are not uninteresting, and
provide much needed background.  Furthermore the topics keep coming
up because these licenses are being applied all of the time to new
software packages all of the time.  There are always new situations
that these licenses are being used in.

> If the time wasted on these rants had gone into writing software we'd
> have a 100% BSDL system today. My very humble suggestion is that you
> please take this somewhere else. I've never seen a GPL advocate 'see the
> light' and start licensing his software under the BSD license after
> having a conversation with a BSD 'zealot', or vice versa.
> 

You probably missed the issue if you think this is a discussion meant
to convince someone BSD is better than GPL.  The people on this list
already KNOW that BSD is better than GPL.  They don't need convincing.
What they DO need to know, however, is WHY.  That is educational discussion
not useless argument.

My humble suggestion to you is that you shake off the idea you seem
to have that the ultimate goal is a 'finished' 100% BSDL system.  If
that ever happened, BSD would be dead.

Minix is a 'finished' system.  Xenix is a 'finished' system.  Covalent
is a 'finished' system.  FreeBSD is not, and hopefully never will be.

Ted