FYI

Richard Coleman richardcoleman at mindspring.com
Thu May 6 17:07:32 PDT 2004


Ulisse Bemer wrote:
> maybe I'm dumb, but... I really don't understand why the new XFree86
> license would be "non-free", like Stallman and the GNU people are
> asserting.
> 
> Seriously, I think that people like the XFree86 folks, who are
> willing to give away the results of their work just in exchange for
> proper *credits* - and so, without the annoying restrictions of the 
> GNU-sponsored GPL license, which claims to be "free" but it *forces*
> everybody to give away *their* source code as well - must be
> supported, and not boycotted.
> 
> I think that all Open Source software should be supported:  the fewer
> restrictions, the better. You can't boycott someone because he uses a
> license that has *fewer* restrictions than yours, that seems to me as
> just plain arrogance.
> 
> Moreover, the new XFree86 License is not applied to the external
> libraries  - that is, you can run GLPed software on top of XFree86
> 4.4.0 without problems.
> 
> Anyway... I'm sorry if i went OT in a technical list. And thanks for
> bringing us the *free* XFree86. :-)
> 
> regards, ulisse bemer

I'm not sure why the XFree folks felt the need to change the license. 
But on the other hand, I'm not sure why the GNU/Linux/OpenBSD folks 
think it's such a big deal.  My understanding is that the new XFree 
license is similar to the old, original BSD license (correct me if I'm 
wrong).

But the new Xorg stuff looks pretty interesting, so it will most likely 
be a non-issue in the end.

Richard Coleman
richardcoleman at mindspring.com



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